FILIPINO MARLON MANALO got off to a bright start by beating Tee Chee-soon of Brunei, 9-6, at the start of the World Ten Ball Championship Monday at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.
The reigning national champion bucked a slow start to beat Tee Chee-soon of Brunei, 9-6, and move within a win of clinching a spot in the knockout round. He will next face Fabio Petroni of Italy, a fomer world trickshot champion, who defeated Huidji See of the Netherlands, 9-7.
After winning the lag, Manalo proceeded to run out the opening frame. But a miss on the blue two allowed Tee to level the count. There were three deadlocks after eight racks, but there was no stopping Manalo when he started to pull away midway in the match. "Nahirapan lang ako mag-adjust sa lamesa. Masyado kasing mabilis ang tapete," said Manalo. Manalo clustered three racks to post a 7-4 lead and never looked back.
The fast surface kept him from running out consecutive racks, but the three-rack cushion proved enough for Manalo to pull through. "Alam ko naman na nahihirapan din sa bilis ng lamesa ang kalaban ko kaya hindi ako nag-worry masyado."
Elmer Kalaquian and Victor Arpilleda joined Manalo in the winner's bracket after posting convincing victories against separate rivals. Kalaquian toppled Matjaz Erculj of Slovenia, 9-3, while Arpilleda downed Wang Ko-pin of Chinese Taipei, 9-6.
Reigning national junior champion Jericho Banares failed to keep the momentum going for the Filipinos, losing to Steve Moore of the United States, 4-9.
Falling by the wayside were Elvis Calasang and Florencio Banar. Calasang fell to Naoyuki Oi of Japan, 8-9, while Banar bowed to Bruno Muratore of Italy, 5-9.
Meanwhile, last year's World Pool Championship winner Darryl Peach of England downed Hong Kong's Sit Shun-ching, 9-4.
contributed by MARLON BERNARDINO
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