BUSTAMANTE, MANALO, LINING MARCHES LAST 16 IN DOHA WORLD POOL

FRANCISCO “Django” Bustamante, Marlon “Marvelous” Manalo and Antonio “Nickoy” Lining and three other Filipino cue artists made it to the next round in the on-going 2010 World Pool Championships (World 9-Ball) after hurdling seperate opponents in the round of 32 yesterday at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation hall in Doha, Qatar.
The Tarlac City native Bustamante, the pride of Puyat Sports defeated 2008 WPA World Junior titlist Ko Pin-yi of Chinese-Taipei, 11-8, to advance into the round-of-16.

” Grabe matatag pa din y’ung Taiwanese ayaw bumitiw sa laro,” said Bustamante,who race a 5-1 to 6-2 commanding lead before Ko slice the gap at 6-4 count in the 10th racks.

Manalo the pride of Barangay Malamig in Mandaluyong City, on the other hand subdued former US Open 9-ball ruler Shane “The South Dakota Kid” Van Boening of the United States, 11-7.

” Buti nakauna agad tayo kay Shane at medyo maganda din tumbok natin hanggang sa huli,” said Manalo, who took a 6-3 commanding lead.
The pride of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro Lining, meantime came back after a slow start crushing Nguyen P.Long of Vietnam, 11-6.

” Nakauna yung Vietnamese pero sabi ko matagal naman ang laban, race-to-11 at alternate break format. Baka mag iba ng ihip ng hangin sa kalagitnaan ng laro,” said Lining.
Sharing the limelight are Francisco Felicilda who edged countryman Jeffrey de Luna, 11-10, Raymund Faraon trounced Scott Higgins of Great Britain, 11-10, and Oliver Medenilla routed Nitiwat Kanjanasri of Thailand, 11-9.

Also made it to the “Sweet 16″ and already guranteed at $4,000 are Craig Osbome of Great Britain who dealt Tony Drago of Malta, 11-8, and Dimitri Jungo of Switzerland who nipped Lee Chenman of Hongkong, 11-8.
The 128 player’s field World Pool-Billiards Association (WPA) santioned tournament dangles $36,000 to the champion with a total pot prize of $250,000.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO