FORMER WPA World 9-ball and 8-ball champion Ronato “Volcano” Alcano, Antonio “Nikoy” Lining and Jeffrey “The Bull” de Luna toppled their respective rivals last Sunday in the group stage of the 2011 World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) World 9-Ball Championship at the Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
The Calamba hotshot Alcano defeated Hamzah Al Saeed of Kuwait, 9-5 in Group L; Lining of Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro routed Liu Cheng Cheih of Chinese-Taipei, 9-4 in Group P while de Luna of Marinduque crushed Abdulwahed Jamil Hussain of UAE, 9-4 in Group H.
Also winning his match is OFW Allan Cuartero of Surigao del Sur who trounced Mohmad Al Sofi of Syria, 9-5 also in Group L.
Meanwhile, nine Filipinos including Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza, Roberto “Pinoy Superman” Gomez, Antonio “Ga-Ga” Gabica, Israel “Amay” Rota, Raymund Faraon, Venancio Tanio, Francisco Felicilda, Joven Alba and Caneda Villamor won their respective matches in the losers’ brackets to stay alive in this $250,000 tournament which offers $36,000 to the champion.
The Davao City pride Corteza subdued Erik Hjorliefson of Canada, 9-4; Gomez of Divisoria, Zamboanga edged Almed Naeem Ali of Jordan, 9-8; Gabica of Cebu trounced Majed Al Zaab of UAE, 9-4; Rota also of Cebu beat Mazen Berjawi of Libya, 9-6; Bicol’s Faraon outgunned Hamzah Al Saeed of Iran, 9-2; Tanio dismantled Ameen Fekree of UAE, 9-4; Felicilda tripped Dennis Grabe of Estonia, 9-8; Alba outwitted Bruno Muratore of Italy while Villamor clobbered Jon Grimley of New Zealand, 9-1.
The 128 players seeing action in the event have been divided into 16 groups consisting of eight. They play in a double elimination, race-to-9 alternate break format.
Four qualifiers from each group (two each from the winners and losers brackets) will advance to the 64-player field who will play in a single elimination, race-to-11, alternate break knockout stage.
The finals will be a race-to-13, alternate break affair.