Carlo Biado, Jeff de Luna and Jeffrey Ignacio earned slots to the round of 64 after humbling their second round rivals yesterday in the World 9-Ball Championship at the Al-Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
Biado beat South Africa’s Richard Halliday, 9-4; De Luna downed Qatar’s Muzammil Hussain, 9-3; and Ignacio edged China’s Dang Jinhu, 9-6, to become the first Filipinos to reach the knockout stage of the annual tournament.
Warren Kiamco, Johann Chua, Francisco Felicilda and Roland Garcia were relegated to the loser’s bracket after dropping their matches.
Kiamco fell 9-7 to Russia’s Konstantin Stepanove, Chua and Felicilda absorbed similar 9-8 defeats to Venezuela’s Jalal Al Sarisi and Taiwan’s Jung Lin Chang, respectively, and Chua was beaten 9-5 by Austria’s Maximilian Lechner.
They need to win their next matches at press time to join Biado, De Luna and Ignacio in the last 64.
Staying in contention for a berth in the next round is Israel Rota who downed Jermiah Naidoo, 9-1, in the loser’s bracket.
