MANILA, Philippines - Johann Gonzales turned back Chang Jun Ling of Chinese-Taipei, 9-6, in Group 6 as four more Filipinos advanced to the Last 64 of the WPA World 9-ball Championship at Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar Tuesday night.
Joining Gonzales, a quarterfinalist last year, in the knockout stage are Lee Vann Corteza, Warren Kiamco, and Oliver Medenilla, who similarly made the most out of their last chance from the losers’ bracket to progress and hurdled their respective assignments.
Corteza clobbered Canadian Tom Terialult, 9-2, in a win-or-go-home match in Group 7 while Kiamco and Medenilla hacked out identical 9-6 victories over Canadian Shannon Ducharme and Norwegian Vegar Kristiansen in a pair of Group 5 outings.
The four thus joined the five other Pinoy bets in the Round-of-64. Dennis Orcollo, Jeffrey Ignacio, Antonio Gabica, Carlo Biado and Raymund Faraon earlier earned their berths after two successive victories in their respective groups.
Francisco Felicilda, however, dropped a 7-9 setback to Polish Tomasz Kaplan and bowed out in Group 12. He was the second casualty after Qatar-based Pinoy Amir Rota, who absorbed two losses in group play.
Two Filipinos, though, are sure to take the exit after the Round-of-64 as Kiamco will play Faraon and Biado will slug it out with Corteza in Wednesday night’s KO sessions.
Gonzales will take on Japanese Yuko Akagariyama while Ignacio will duel with Canadian Jason Klatt, Gabica will face Russian Ruslan Chinakhov, Medenillla will meet Polish Karol Skowerski, and Orcollo will battle Qatari Mishel Turkey.