Thursday, December 04, 2008 Pinoys stay alive in World Jr. Championships
RENO—Jerico Banares and Zemonette Oryan, the country’s best hopes of scoring a breakthrough win in the World Junior Championship, dominated separate rivals on Tuesday to land a spot in the knockout stage of the Under-19 tournament at Sands Regency Hotel here.
Banares toyed with Japanese Kihara Hirotaka, 9-2, to advance to the quarterfinals of the boy’s division while Oryan outclassed Briana Miller of the United States, 7-3, to clinch a semifinal seat in the girls’ division.
The tournament format turns from double-elimination to knockout in the quarterfinals for the boys and semifinals for the girls.
The top four players from the winner’s bracket would be pitted against the last four players standing from the loser’s side in the boys group, while the top two players from the winner’s bracket would go up against the last two from the loser’s side in the girls.
Alive
Jonas Magpantay, the other Filipino in the field, kept his bid alive by beating American Billy Thorpe, 9-5.
Magpantay was relegated to the losers’ bracket following his heartbreaking 8-9 loss to Chiang Chieh-an of Chinese Taipei on Monday night.
He would next face Fil-Canadian McEarl Bucais, who eliminated Kenneth Ang-Eng-Soon of Singapore, 9-5. The winner would shoot for a quarterfinal seat against Nico Wehner of Germany.
Banares and Oryan took the shorter route.
Both players were untouchable in their last two games. The 19-year-old Banares toppled Nick Pera of New Zealand, 9-5, while Oryan, also 19, blanked Sabrina Naverschnig of Austria, 7-0, on Monday night.
Best
Banares, the reigning national junior champion, was at his best against Hirotaka. He raced to a 5-0 lead and never looked
back.
“I have managed to adjust with the time zone,” said Banares. “During my first day, I was still sleepy when I competed.”
Oryan, the women’s national champion, also jumped the gun against Miller. She took leads of 3-0, 4-1 and 6-2 before running out the 10th frame for the clincher. (PR)
