Kiamco, Chua, Biado barge into quarters of World 10 Ball Championship

Warren Kiamco. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY– Just when it looked like Filipino shooters were falling by the wayside, three of the nation’s finest players steeled themselves in time.

Warren Kiamco, Carlo Biado, and Johann “Bubwit” Chua will represent the country in the elite eight of the MP Cup World 10 Ball Championship on Saturday morning in SM City Gensan. The semis and final will be played immediately after.

Kiamco tussles with Chinese Taipei’s Ko Ping Chung, with the winner meeting either Ko’s elder brother Ko Pin Yi or countryman Yang Ching Shun.

Biado encounters Liu Haitao of China and if he wins will square off with either Corteza or David Alcaide of Spain.

Carlo Biado. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Kiamco showed plenty of guts in coming from 5-1 behind to upend Cheng Yu Hsuan, also of Chinese Taipei, 11-9 in their round-of-16 clash. Kiamco closed with a flourish, with a run out in the last rack that included a superb bank on the seven ball.

Earlier in the day Kiamco, from Carmen, Cebu, had demolished Darren Appleton, the 2009 champion, 11-5. Appleton admitted on Facebook that Kiamco played a “more or less perfect set (match)” against him.

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Johann Chua went through the wringer, edging Lee Vann Corteza 11-10 in his last sixteen match up hours after defeating China’s Wang Can 11-7 in the previous round. In that match Wang was docked a rack for taking a bathroom break while it was Corteza’s turn to break, a violation of tournament rules.

Johann Chua. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

Biado has arguably had the easiest path of the three, defeating Nick Ekonomopolous of Greece 11-7, Karl Boyes of England 11-6, then outsteadying Poland’s Radoslaw Babica 11-7.

The play of the trio helped salvage a day that at times looked very bleak for the Pinoys, with some Pinoy players being eliminated in soul-shattering fashion.

There was controversy in the round of 32 match between Yang Ching Shun of Taipei and Mapandi Baseth of Marawi City.

Tied at 10-10 in a race to 11, Baseth had ball-in-hand on the two ball and a runnable table. He called for an extension but apparently was unable to get his shot off in time before the extension ran out.

Official time keeper Ana Tulauan thus called a time foul on Baseth and awarded the table to Yang, who ran out to advance.

Ronnie Alcano was tableside and commented that Baseth had indeed taken too much time on the shot.

Baseth was relatively stoic after the setback but expressed a desire to see the shot clock taken out on decision racks.

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In this tournament only matches that have run on very long are put on the clock.

Revo David was another Filipino who was eliminated in a heartbreaking manner. Tied 10-10 against Poland’s Radoslaw Babica, David was faced with two balls left, the eight and the ten. The eight ball was at an awkward angle that forced him to stretch out to hit the ball naturally. Instead of playing the shot with a mechanical bridge, David used his usual stroke and jawed the ball in the mouth of the pocket, allowing Babica to run out.

In another round of 32 matchup Jundel Mazon of the Philippines’ 10-4 lead wasn’t good enough as Irsal Nasution caught a gear and won 11-10.

That was also the final score between Fil-Canadian Alex Pagulayan and Liu in the round of 32, with Pagulayan disappointing the crowd in the main “TV” table with a maze of errors in the endgame.

Raymund Faraon also fell by the wayside, getting beaten by Poland’s Mieszko Fortunski 11-9 in the round of 32.

The quarterfinals begin at 10:30 am on Saturday, followed by the semis and the final immediately after. There will be live streaming available. Kindly check out the event Facebook page here.

The winner of this event banks US$40,000 while the runner-up settles for half of that.

Hey where’s the sunblock?? Sunlight falls on the tables at four pm on Friday. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.

OTHER NOTES: At around four pm on Friday the light from the SM City’s high atrium windows started to fall on the tables. Tournament officials announced that players on the affected tables could suspend play while the light passed. Some players elected to keep on playing despite the harsh sunlight… Should Ko Ping Chung and Ko Pin Yi meet in the semis it could very well be the first meeting of siblings in world pool history…. The Philippines has three out of eight players in the quarters, or 37.5%. This is still roughly proportional to the number of players they had in the last 64, which was 25, or 39%…. The event sponsor, Manny Pacquiao, is expected to grace the event on Saturday… although he exited in the round of 64 at the hands of Boyes, 11-7, everyone seems to be talking about eighteen-year-old Anthony Raga of Tabunok, Cebu. The teen already has a big reputation as a tough challenge match player who reportedly gives “weight” (handicap) to players like Kiamco and Alcano when they match up. “Kumpleto siya, lahat ng tira alam niya,” enthused Roberto Gomez. “Saka tama din ang angas niya. Wala siyang takot kahit sinong kalaban niya.”

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.

Anthony Raga. Image copyright Bob Guerrero.