Some big names have hit the bricks at the WPA World Ten Ball Championships in Manila. Ralf Souquet of Germany is now on the one-loss side after dropping his first match 9-6 to Thomasz Kaplan of Poland. He is joined there by Shane Van Boening of the USA, Jeff De Luna of the Philippines, and Ronnie Alcano of the Philippines. Van Boening lost 9-8 to Nguyen Anh Tuan of Viet Nam, and Alcano lost 9-7 to Dang Jin-Hu of China.
While some of our names have met with early misfortune, others have dominated their opponents. Kuo Po-Cheng (CHN) rolled over Matjaz Erculj (SLO) 9-4, Nick Van Den Berg (NED) slaughtered Kim Woong Dae (KOR) 9-1, Niels Feijen (NED) did the same 9-1 cruelty to Scott Higgins (GBR), and Chang Pei-Wei (TPE) busted Elvis Calasang (PHI) 9-3.
Vincent Facquet did well for France by trouncing Christoph Reintjes of Germany 9-3, Olvier Ortmann of Germany easily handled Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia 9-1 and Mika Immonen of Finland continued his dominance of everyone he faces by bombing Basher Hussain of Qatar 9-1.
The results above are all from the afternoon rounds. Play continued at the World Trade Center well into the night as many matches are extending beyond their two-hour expected time frame. The evenng rounds found the crowds focused on the local players. They roared their approval when Marlon Manalo (PHI) beat Stevie Moore (USA) 9-4. There was more to celebrate when Antonio Gabica (PHI) destroyed Ralf Mund (GER) 9-2, Carlo Blado (PHI) creamed Liu Haitao (CHN) 9-4 and Warren Kiamco (PHI) disdained Chi Dung Lung (CHN) 9-4.
No one is as yet out of the running for the title. All who fell today have another bullet left and will not be eliminated until they have again tasted defeat. Stay with us. This story is just in the first chapter.
