ALL hopes of Gandy Valle and Lee Vann Corteza of Davao City crashed along with five other Filipinos as they lost their round of 32 matches in the Qatar International 9-Ball Open Championship at the Qatar Billiards Federation Hall, Doha, Qatar Thursday.
Valle, who clinched the Manny Villar-Superbalita title in Cebu last month, succumbed to a heartbreaking 10-11 defeat at the hands of American Shane Van Boeining.
Corteza, meanwhile, bowed to Japan's Ohi Naoyuki, 9-11, in the single elimination final round.
Current world No. 1 Dennis Orcollo of Surigao beat German Oliver Ortmann, 11-6, to face Warren Kiamco of Cebu in the round of 16. The latter upset two-time world champion Ronato Alcano of Laguna, 11-7.
Filipinos Ramil Gallego, Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Roberto Gomez, Alex Pagulayan, and Jeffrey de Luna also advanced.
Gallego downed Japanese Kawabata Satoshi, 11-7, while Bustamante crushed Antonio Gabica, 11-2, and Gomez racked up an 11-3 win over Hungary's Vilmos Foldes.
Pagulayan and de Luna eliminated Wu Chia Ching (11-10) and Mika Immonen (11-6), respectively.
Efren Reyes bid goodbye together with compatriots Marlon Manalo and Allan Cuartero. Reyes lost Ralf Souquet, 7-11, while Manalo bowed to Thomas Engert, 8-11, and Cuartero was beaten by Niels Feijen, 3-11.
The Round of 16 matches were still ongoing as of this writing Friday. (MLSA)
