MANILA, Philippines – Fourth-ranked Carlo Biado and fancied Dennis Orcollo played true to form and spearheaded the march of five Filipino cuemasters into the Round-of-64 of the WPA World 9-ball Championship Monday night at Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
Biado disposed of Italian Danielle Corrieri, 9-5, to pick up his second straight win in Group 8 and book his expected place in the knockout stages. Orcollo did the same in Group 13, drubbing Bangladeshi Hosain Sayeem, 9-6, to advance.
Joining the duo in the next round were Qatar-based veteran Antonio Gabica Jeff Ignacio, and Raymund Faraon from Groups 16, 15, and 4, respectively.
Gabica, who now coaches the Qatari national team, trounced Bangladeshi Sinha Fahim, 9-7, while Ignacio outclassed Canadian Jason Klatt, 9-6, and Faraon made shortwork of Iranian Pordel Mohammadali, 9-4.
Three other Pinoys - Group 5 entries Warren Kiamco and Oliver Medenilla and last year’s quarterfinalist Johann Chua in Group 6 - got stalled as they lost their second assignments and were relegated to the losers’ side.
Kiamco bowed to Polishh Wojciec Szewczyck, 5-9, while Medenilla fell to Chinese Wu Jia Qing, 2-9, and Chua yielded to Saudi Arabian Abdulrahman Al Amar, 7-9, for 1-1 records.
The trio were gunning for a victory No. 2 last night to salvage spots to the Last-64.