AN UNHERALDED Cebuano joined two other Filipinos in the Round of 64 of the WPA World 10-Ball Championships after pulling off a hearstopping finish yesterday at the Philippine International Convention Center.
Unknown cue artist Demosthenes Pulpul of Paul “Magi” Magadan stable of Lapu-Lapu City made it to the next round after a surprising 9-8 upset over Yang Cheng Shun of Taiwan.
Pulpul joins Marlon Manalo in the Round of 64, along with another surprise entry, Victor Arpilleda.
Manalo barely broke into a sweat in whipping Fabio Petroni, 9-1, to advance to the knockout, Last 64 stage of the tournament, supervised and sanctioned by the World Pool Association.
Arpilleda, gold medalist in the Straight Ball event of the 1997 Southeast Asian Games, dumped Korean King Woong Dae, 9-5.
The 45-year-old Arpilleda made it to the main draw of the WTBC with his impressive performance in the qualifying event at the Star Billiards Center.
He is moving into the Round of 64 is looking for a decent finish in his second world tournament since coming out from retirement.
“Maganda rin na nanggaling ako sa qualifying event dahil mas nahahasa ako,” said Arpilleda, whose contemporaries include former world champion Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante.
Two Filipinos—Florencio Banar and Elvis Calasang–bowed out of the tournament after losing yesterday.
Banar bowed to Lee Po-Hsien of Chinese Taipei, 5-9, while Calasang lost to compatriot, reigning national junior champion Jericho Banares, 3-9.
The Europeans, meanwhile, continued their invasion in the prestigious tournament,
Reigning World 9-Ball champion Daryl Peach of Great Britain also advanced into the next round following his 9-3 triumph over Japanese rival Kazuo Furuta.
“I like my chances in this tournament, but I do believe that it would be a wide-open race for the title and that includes the ladies in the men’s turf,” he said.
Two-time world champion Ralf Souquet opened his bid, where he coasted to an easy 9-1 triumph over Patrick Menillo of Italy. The other winners were Luis Condo of Austria, Christian Tuvi of Uruguay, Jonni Fulcher of Scotland, Alwi of Indonesia, Charlie Williams of the US, Sascha Tege of Germany. (PR)
