LAST year’s runner-up Antonio Gabica, Carlo Biado and several unheralded Filipino players marched on but Dennis Orcollo and Lee Vann Corteza fell by the wayside on Thursday in the 2014 WPA World 9-Ball Championship in Doha, Qatar.
Gabica, who lost to Thorsten Hohmann in last year’s championship match, continued his title bid with an 11-7 win over Medhi Rasekhi of Iran.
Biado won over Meiszko Fortunski of Poland, 11-6, to also advance to the next phase and keep alive his bid for the US$30,000 top prize.
Orcollo lost to Naoyuki Oi of Japan, 11-8, while Corteza bowed to Waleed Majed of Qatar, 11-6, in the round-of-64 match to send both top Pinoy players packing on a day reigning champion Hohmann of Germany was also eliminated from the title picture.
Unheralded Filipino pool players also made it to the round-of-32 with Raymond Faraon topping Liu Cheng Chieh of Chinese Taipei, 11-5, Elmer Haya downing compatriot Francisco Felicilda, 11-7, and Johann Chua beating Daniele Corrieri of Italy, 11-4.
Hohmann lost to Marc Teutscher of the Netherlands, 11-9, in the first round of the knockout stage.
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