19-26 February 2011
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Qualifiication Rounds Over in Fujairah
Credit: Jerry Forsyth
Some
big names have left for the exits in Fujairah. World 9-Ball Champion
Francisco Bustamante was ahead of Daryl Peach 6-4 in the race to seven
games and lost that match 7-6. He then had to defeat David Alcaide of
Spain to stay alive but failed as Alcaide prevailed 7-3 to send
Francisco home. Another much-feared Filipino, Jeff De Luna, has also
seen his efforts come to naught after he was surprised by Khaled Al
Mutairi of Kuwait 7-5 and then lost 7-6 to Takhti Zarekani of Iran 7-6.
Corey Deuel of the
USA lost his frst-round match to Jalal Yousef of Jordan, then faced a
super-tough Raj Hundal of India in a match where Hundal seemed never out
of control. Deuel fell 7-5 to allow Hundal to advance to the final
round. Vincent Facquet
of
France is having a good tournament. Undefeated in the group stages, he
had to play a race to three tiebreaker against Nguyen Phuc Long of VIet
Nam to determine which of them would get the final first-round bye in
the last round of 64. He won that 3-2 and went back to his hotel to
sleep peacefully and await the next challenge. Earl Strickland is yet to
break a sweat. The multi-time World Champion won his two group matches
easily (7-5 over Sumit Talwar and 7-4 over Erik Hjorliefson). As luck
would have it, the draw for the round of 64 finds Strickland playing
Erik Hjorliefson once again in the very first match-up of the final
round. The final round is single-elimination, so any loss will eject
that player from the event. Former World Champions Thorsten Hohmann and
Mika Immonen have both survived the group stages and are playing very
well. Hohmann defeated Russian superstar Ruslan Chinakhov 7-4 and Darren
Appleton stepped on Radoslaw Babica in the same way.
Roberto Gomez of
the Philippines and Naoyuki Oi of Japan both enjoyed impressive
group-stage wins today as Oi defeated Shane Van Boening 7-4 and Oi
nipped Ralf Souquet 7-6 to gain his seed in the final round. Defending
Champion Karl Boyes of Great Britain has barely stretched his legs as
yet. He won his two matches 7-0 and 7-4 and seems as relaxed as a kid on
the beach. This performance earned him a bye in the first round of the
finals so he is already into the round of 32 and his level of confidence
seems enough to carry him through all on its own. Rodney Morris barely
missed a bye himself with wins of 7-3 and 7-5 but he is also in great
spirits and seems to be one of the immovable objects in the room.
Our
number one seed and the man with the best performance thus far is
Antonio Lining of the Philippines. He suffered only three lost games in
two matches as he swept Joyme Vincente 7-0 and then cruised on past
Jepthant Palencia 7-2. He, of course, also earned a bye into the round
of 32. Oliver Ortmann did not earn a bye but he earned some bragging
rights as he dismantled two-time US Open and World 9-Ball and World
10-Ball Champion Mika Immonen 7-2 in their match. Mika won his clutch
third match so both men are in the final rounds.
Only eight matches
of the final round were played but the first result shocked the many
Efren Reyes fans in attendance. They sat stunned as Joven Alba
controlled him and finally eliminated Reyes 9-4. Another big upset
followed a few minutes later when Alok Kumar of India defeat Kuo
Po-Cheng 9-4. As if that were not enough World Champs to fall. Takhti
Zarekani of Iran knocked Thorsten Hohmann out 9-8 after Hohmann had
opened an early 5-1 lead. The rest of the round found Oliver Ortmann
besting Mohammed Abdulmosen Alhazmi 9-2, Carlo Dalmatin defeating Yukio
Akakariyama 9-7, Ronnie Alcano ruining the day for Shaker Wahdan 9-2 and
Huidje See slipping past Marcus Chamat 9-7. Finally, Shane Van Boening
progressed 9-7 over Nguyen Phuc Long 9-7. Play begins Thursday at 1 PM
UAE time.