By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Four Filipinos, led by multiple Southeast Asian Games medalist Johann Chua, toppled their respective rivals on Monday, June 3, to jumpstart their title campaigns in the 2024 World Pool Championship in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Chua, who won the 2023 World Cup of Pool crown with James Aranas, had to dig deep to survive Hamzaa Ali of Eritrea, 9-8, in the first round of the race-to-9, 128-player tournament at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal City Sports Hall.
Also making their title bid felt were Kyle Amoroto, who clobbered hometown bet Khalid Alghamdi, 9-5; Lee Van Corteza, who crushed Saudi Arabian Nawaf Shamardal, 9-1; and Roland Garcia, who edged Nicholas De Leon of the United States, 9-7.
Not so fortunate was 2017 champion Carlo Biado, who stumbled to Marco Teutscher of the Netherlands, 9-5, and was relegated to the losers’ bracket.
Jeffrey Ignacio also came close to his first win, but fell short in the crunch with a 9-8 loss to Chinese Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi.
Jefrey Roda also suffered a 9-4 beating at the hands of Great Britain’s Jayson Shaw.
Six other Filipinos are competing in the opening round at press time, with Patric Gonzales clashing with Italy’s Franesco Candela, Albert Manas colliding with Canada’s John Morra, and Aranas battling with local bet Fahad Aldhayan.
Bernie Regalario currently competes with teammates Anton Raga, while Michael Feliciano is meeting Qatar’s Ali Al Obaidli.
A record-breaking $1 million total prize is at stake in the tournament with the champion player taking home the lion’s share of $250,000 (around P14.6 million).
