AJ Manas remained phenomenal in the Philippines Open Pool Championship, progressing to the Last 16 Thursday at Gateway Mall in Cubao.
The Reyes Cup MVP caught a big fish by taking down world champion and Team Asia peer Carlo Biado, 10-7, to sustain his fantastic week.
Manas, the 18-year-old wonder, took the last five racks, as he capitalized on an open shot on the 2 to clean the table in rack 17 and earn his place in the next phase.
‘Starboy’ will now meet Paolo Gallito, who got the better of Naoyuki Oi of Japan, 10-4, in this single-elimination tournament that has a USD125,00 prize pool, with USD30,000 awaiting the champion.
Django bids farewell
Midnight, however, struck on legend Francisco “Django” Bustamante, as Harry Vergara took the 10-8 win in their match.
Hong Kong-born Filipino Robbie Capito also made it through to the next round after dispatching Mario He, 10-6, and now braces for Emil Gangflot of Norway, who beat John Vincent Vicedo, 10-7.
Six other foreigners are still alive in the field, led by Jayson Shaw of Scotland who won against Jerwin Capili Samia, 10-7; David Alcaide of Spain who trumped Paul John Ladao, 10-5; Hanoi Open winner Pijus Labutis of Lithuania who topped Fu Che Wei of Chinese Taipei, 10-5; and Arseni Sevastyanov of Finland who eliminated Mickey Krause of Denmark, 10-9.
Completing the Last 16 field are Filipinos Bernie Regalario (vs. Mark Jerick Leyva, 10-8); Roland Garcia (vs. Deanmark Castronuevo, 10-5); Jefrey Roda (vs. Lukas Fracassso-Verner of USA, 10-3); Jeffrey Ignacio (vs. John Morra of Canada, 10-5); Michael Baoanan (vs. Jonas Souto of Spain, 10-4); Patric Gonzales (vs. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain, 10-7); and Eric Navarrete (vs. Anton Raga, 10-6).
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