By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Four more Filipinos, including James Aranas, marched into the second round after dispatching their respective rivals while former champion Carlo Biado crashed out early in the 2024 World Pool Championship in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, June 4.
Aranas, who won the 2023 World Cup of Pool crown with Johann Chua, showed his might and crushed hometown bet Fahad Aldhayan, 9-6, to open his title campaign in the race-to-9, $1 million tournament.
Also moving into the next phase were Albert Manas, who squeaked past Canada’s John Morra, 9-8; Michael Feliciano, who drubbed Switzerland’s Michael Schneider, 9-4; and Anton Raga, who smashed compatriot Bernie Regalario, 9-1.
Meanwhile, Biado kissed goodbye to his title bid after absorbing his second defeat, this time, to Spanish Open champion Dang Jin Hu of China, 9-5, in the loser’s bracket.
Biado, who absorbed a 9-5 loss to Marco Teutscher of the Netherlands the other day, was felled by Dang’s golden break.
Jefrey Roda and Jeffrey Ignacio also suffered early exits, losing to Hamzaa Ali of Eritrea, 9-6, and United States’ Nicholas De Leon, 9-3, while Patric Gonzales and Regalario bounced back from first-round defeats with victories over Saudi Arabia’s Fahad Alharbi, 9-1, and United States’ Sam Henderson, 9-3, to remain in contention.
Aranas is battling Pijus Labutis at presstime after the Lithuanian routed Germany’s Pia Filler, 9-1, while Kyle Amoroto is taking on defending champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz.
The game between Lee Vann Corteza and Alexander Kazakis are also being held at press time and so are the matches of Chua against Great Britain’s Jayson Shaw, Roland Garcia vs Chinese Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi, Manas versus Chinese Taipei’s Chang Jung-Lin, Raga vs Serbia’s Aleksa Pecelj and Feliciano against Qatar’s Ali Al Obaidli.
