JEDDAH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — 2024 world ten-ball title holder Carlo Biado and 2023 World Cup of Pool champion Johann Chua with 10 fellow Filipino cue artists reached the knockout stage through different paths in the World Pool Championship at the Green Halls stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Biado downed veteran compatriot Lee Van Corteza, 9-4, while Chua beat European champion Oliver Szolnoki of Hungary, 9-3, to barge into the round-of-64 of the prestigious 9-ball competition organized by the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation (SBSF) and Matchroom Pool and with supervision from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Sport.
The two Filipinos made it through after posting their second win in as many matches, along with Roland Garcia, Marvin Asis, Jefrey Roda, Anton Raga, Bernie Regalario, James Aranas, Jeffrey Ignacio and AJ Manas.
Garcia defeated Ameer Ali of Iraq, 9-7, Asis won over former Greek champion Dimitris Loukatos, 9-3, Roda downed Mustafa Alnar of Turkey, 9-4, Raga took out the Germany-based Syrian Mohammad Soufi, 9-5, while Regalario outmatched highly fancied Ko Pin Yi of Taiwan, 9-6.
Other winners were Aranas, who out-shot two-time winner Albin Ouschan of Austria, 9-5, Ignacio who squeak passed fellow Filipino Michael Baoanan, 9-8, while Manas stunned Singaporean Aloysius Yapp, 9-6 even as Michael Feliciano and Patric Gonzales also advanced to the last 64, albeit through the loser’s bracket.
Feliciano bounced back from losing to Bosnian Sanjin Pehlivanovic, 9-2, by triumphing over Stefan Kasper of Germany, 9-8, while Gonzales recovered from a setback at the hands of Taiwan’s Ko Ping Chung, 9-5, by dominating Ko Ping Han, also from Taiwan, 9-1.
As of press time, the knockout stage had began with the Filipino pool players hoping to end our country’s eight-year drought in the tournament.
