Filipinos coast to Round of 64

Filipinos made their presence felt as they marched to the Round of 64 in the Nine-Ball World Pool Championship in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

Carlo Biado and Johann Chua banner the Filipino qualifiers that also include AJ Manas, Bernie Regalario, Anton Raga, Patrick Gonzales, James Aranas, Jeffrey Ignacio, Michael Feliciano, Jefrey Roda, Roland Garcia and Marvin Asis, who all survived their respective second-round matches.

Regalario pulled off a 9-6 win over Ko Pin Yi of Chinese Taipei; Gonzales with a 9-5 triumph over Ko Ping Chung of Chinese Taipei; Manas with a shocking 9-6 upset of Aloysius Yapp of Singapore; and Aranas with a 9-5 win over Albin Ouschan of Austria.

On the other hand, Biado defeated teammate Lee Vann Corteza, 9-4; Chua posted a 9-3 win over Oliver Szolnoki of Austria; Raga registered a 9-5 win over Mohammad Soufi of Syria; Ignacio tallied a close 9-8 win over compatriot Michael Baoanan; and Feliciano pulled off a 9-8 win over Stefan Kasper of Germany.

Roda was also victorious, scoring a 9-4 win over Mustafa Alanar of Turkey; Garcia with a 9-7 win over Ameer Ali of Iraq; and Asis pulling off a 9-3 win over Dmitris Loukatos of Greece.

Biado downed Jan Van Lierop of Netherlands, 9-5; Chua rolled past Mohammed Al-Balkhi of Saudi Arabia, 9-0; and Corteza beat Al Waleed Al-Mudayan of Saudi Arabia, 9-7, to boost their respective bids to become the first Filipino to win the prestigious title since Biado defeated Garcia in an all-Filipino final in Doha in 2017.

Aside from Biado, other Filipino cue artists who have won the title of this tourney that stakes a cash prize of $250,000 are Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Ronnie Alcano and Efren “Bata” Reyes.