Philippines flexes muscle; 14 countries represented in Round of 32

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The World 10-Ball Championship got a taste of home cooking on the first day of the knockout round at the World Trade Center in Manila.
Eight Filipinos advanced to the Round of 32 despite a sluggish start and disappointing finish on Saturday.
Former national junior champion Jerico Banares got waylaid by former World Pool Championship ruler Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, 1-9, to become the first casualty in the money round.
Two-time world champion Ronnie Alcano and Asian Games gold medal winner Antonio Gabica were also shown the door by their foreign rivals in the night sessions.
But in between, the Filipinos were dominant.

Antonio Lining opened the Filipinos’ account with a masterful 9-4 conquest of former US Open champion Corey Deuel of the United States.
The locals got rolling after that.

Jomar De Ocampo, easily the biggest surprise in the event, continued his remarkable run with an impressive 9-6 dismantling of Korean ace Jeong Young Hwa; Warren Kiamco outlasted Jalal Yousef of Venezuela, 9-8; Lee Vann Corteza held off Konstantin Stepanov of Russia, 9-7; Marlon Manalo demolished Fu Jianbo of China, 9-4; Jundel Mazon escaped with a 9-8 win over Alain Martel of Canada; Elvis Calasang pulled away late in his 9-5 triumph over Markus Juva of Finland; and Dennis Orcollo routed Oscar Dominguez of the United States, 9-2.

Imram Majid of Great Britain spoiled the fun later in the day by rallying from 1-5 hole to defeat Alcano, 9-5.
Gabica also put himself in good position to advance but fell short against David Alcaide of Spain, 8-9.
Nonetheless, the eight players in the next round from the Philippines are the most from one nation.
Great Britain is far second with four led by defending champion Darren Appleton and reigning 9-ball world champion Daryl Peach. The other Englishmen left were Majid and Jonni Fulcher.

China, Germany and Japan have three apiece. The Chinese survivors are Li Hewen, Dang Jin-hu and Wang Ming; the Germans are Hohmann, reigning 8-ball world champion Ralf Souquet and Thomas Engert; and the Japanese are Naoyuki Ooi, Satoshi Kawabata and Hayato Hijikata.
Pool powerhouse Chinese Taipei only advanced two in former world champion Chao Fong-pang and Chang Yu-lung.

The other countries represented in the Round of 32 are Finland (Mika Immonen), Sweden (Marcus Chamat), Netherlands (Nick van den Berg), Russia (Ruslan Chinakhov), Spain (Alcaide), Indonesia (Alwi), Vietnam (Nguyen Anh Than), Czech Republic (Roman Hybler) and France (Stephan Cohen).

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO