FILIPINO cue masters made their presence felt with a tremendous show of force at the start of the 32nd Annual US 9-Ball Open at the Chesapeake Convention Center in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Efren “Bata” Reyes, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Ronato “Volcano” Alcao, Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan, Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo, Jose “Amang” Parica, Lee Van “The Slayer” Corteza, Warren Kiamco and Rodolfo “Boy Samson” Luat all hurdled past their first assignments to move into the next round according to the results posted at Azbilliards.com
The Filipino warriors battled through a tough field of 233 competitors who will be slugging it out for the $50,000 top prize. The runnerup will earn $25,000 and the third placer will get $12,500.
The US Open 9-Ball Championship is considered the longest running and the most prestigious 9-Ball event in the world.
The lone Pinoy casualty in the first round was Ramil Gallego, who lost 5-11 to Markus Jura. Gallego will get his chance to bounce back from the losers bracket as he plays Huidje See.
Meanwhile, Pagulayan defeated Carsten Due, 11-3, in the Winner’s Side 1 and will play Frank Alvarez in the second round.
From the Winner’s Side 2, Orcollo advanced to the next round after Cliff Joyner withdrew from the contest and will be playing Michael Dechaine in his next assignment. Luat, on the other hand, defeated Hunter Lombardo, 11-5, and will play Ivaylo Petrov next.
The Filipino bigwigs were grouped in Winner’s Side 3 with Parica showing no mercy against John Harris with an 11-0 win. Bustamante had little difficulty in defeating David Rowell, 11-4, while Corteza trounced Shawn Keaton, 11-4.
Collision
Kiamco also survived a tough 11-10 win over Georgio Margola, while Alcano had little trouble in hacking out an 11-2 win over Ryan Hershman and Reyes routed Jim Faircloth, 11-3.
Parica, who was playing Abdullah El Yousef, at press time is on collision course with Bustamante, who was tackling Richie Oren.
Corteza, who was to play Jason Klatt, will face Kiamco if he beats Klatt and Kiamco beats Daniel Madden.
On the other hand, Alcano, who ousted Reyes in the World Pool Championships last year, will get a chance to do so again if he beats Paddy McLaughlin and Reyes hurdles Marc Vidal.
Reyes won the US Open in 1994, while Pagulayan won in 2005. (RCM)
