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Pinoys off to hot start in World 9 Ball Championship

Philippine pocket billiards stars once again sparkled at day one of the WPA 9 ball World Championship at the Al Saad Sports Club in Doha, Qatar on Saturday.

This year no less than eleven Filipinos are looking to repeat the feat of the last Pinoy champ in this event, Franciso Bustamante, who picked up his only world title here in 2010.

128 players are vying for the crown, and they are all split into 16 groups of eight who will play a double-elimination group that will produce eight players who will then proceed to single-elimination bracket of 64 shooters. Matches are race-to-nine in the first stage then race-to-eleven in the knockout stages. The entire tournament is alternate break. The final match on Friday is an extended race-to-thirteen.

Last year Pinoy Antonio Gabica made it all the way to the final only to get mowed down by an in-form Thorsten Hohmann, 13-7, to allow the German to gain his second world title.

A year on, Gabica looked sharp in taking out two-time World Championship runner-up Kuo Po Cheng of Chinese Taipei 9-5 in his first outing. The Filipino now faces either Bangladeshi Fahim Sinha or Michel Bartol of Croatia to seal a spot in the last 64.

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Dennis Orcollo, widely considered the best player in the world, overcame some nerve-jangling moments to edge Canadian World Cupper Jason Klatt 9-8. Orcollo now faces Ko Ping Chung of Chinese Taipei, with the winner getting a spot in the knockout rounds.

Another Pinoy vet, Warren Kiamco of Cebu, was also in stroke as he disposed of Frenchman Stephane Cohen, a former 14.1 Continuous world champ, 9-7. Kiamco now squares off against Niels Feijen of the Netherlands for an automatic spot in the last 64. Kiamco only came into the tournament as a last-minute replacement after two players didn't show up. The Cebuano had the most points among the non-winners of the first qualifying stage that wound up last week thus he squeaked into the field.

Carlo Biado of Perry and Verna Mariano's Bugsy Promotions stable had no issues in his first match as well, dispatching Nour Wasfi Al Jarra of Jordan 9-3.

Another Pinoy, Raymond Faraon, gave Estonia's Dennis Grabe a sniff of a chance in parts of their match but eventually the Filipino came out smelling like a rose, winning 9-8.

This year Efren Reyes' attempt to duplicate the world 9 Ball title he won in 1999 hit a speed bump as he fell 9-5 to Korea's Jeong Young Hwa in a slovenly contest filled with errors from both players.

A Reyes 8-9 combo tied the contest 4-4. But “The Magician” was unlucky to get jawhooked in the next rack and although he made a legal hit on the one ball, surrendered an easy run out to allow Jeong to nose ahead 5-4.

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Reyes then missed a one ball in rack ten to allow Jeong to take a 6-4 lead. Another miss from Efren in the next rack, a long two, let Jeong go 7-4 up. Reyes pegged a rack back when Jeong made a position error in rack 13 but after Reyes flubbed an eight ball in the next rack, Jeong knocked in two balls for a 9-5 scalp.

Reyes now plays Grabe in the Group 9 loser's bracket, and should he win that match and hurdle another, he will proceed to the knockout round of 64.

Bacolod's Ramil Gallego was also not so fortunate, as he succumbed to Dutchman Nick Van Den Berg in his first assignment, 9-7. Gallego must now win two matches in his double-elimination group to progress to the single-elimination stage.

This year the top prize is US$30,000 out of a pot of US$200,000.

For the first time Wiraka tables from Malaysia are being used in this event.

Reyes, Bustamante, Ronnie Alcano and Alex Pagulayan are the only Filipinos to win this tournament. Unfortunately Alcano and Bustamante are conspicuous in their absence here in Qatar, as is rising star Jeffrey Ignacio, who just finished runner-up in the China Open. It is reported that Bustamante does not have the requisite world ranking points to qualify directly for the event, and neither was he given a wildcard berth.

Other Filipinos like Jeff De Luna, Johann Chua, Lee Van Corteza, Alex Pagulayan, Elmer Haya, and Israel Rota play on Sunday.

Watch free live streaming of the event on this link. You can follow the World-Pool Billiard Association on Twitter @poolwpa.