Ibrahim makes presence felt in Philippine Open qualifying stage

Overseas Filipino Worker Allan Cuartero made his presence felt in the opening games of the Philippine Open Pool Championships qualifying matches on Thursday at the Star Billiards Center with two contrasting victories.

But Imran Ibrahim of Indonesia was the real surprise of the day as he claimed the scalp of two Filipino players in the morning matches.

Ibrahim defeated Jundel Mazon, 7-5, then followed it up with another impressive win over another experienced Pinoy cue artist, Joven Bustamante via the same score. The Indonesian veteran competitor quickly vaulted his way to the top with a 2-0 record.

Bustamante, who had already played three games from morning until early afternoon, salvaged two victories – a 7-2 win over Tomoo Takano of Japan and a 7-0 sweep of Hon Keong Kok of Vietnam.

Ibrahim was joined atop the 35-player field by Cuartero, a Filipino, who is now based in Kuwait.

Cuartero made short work of David Tan of Malaysia, 7-2, then whipped Lim Leng of Vietnam, 7-4, in his next match.

Favored bets from China and Japan also won matches.

Chinese cue artist Jin Hu Dang, also a veteran competitor of several world pool championships, defeated Indonesia's Bewi, 7-4. Tomoo Takano of Japan defeated Yin Kai Liao of Chinese Taipei, 7-5.