World Pool: De Luna advances to Round 16

Qualifier Jeff de Luna became the first Filipino to reach the 2006 Philippine World Pool Championship's round of 16. De Luna, who finished third in the 2006 Philippine National Championship to qualify for the World Pool, defeated Lee Kun-Fang of Chinese Taipei, 10-8, early Thursday evening at the Philippine International Convention Center. After trailing 5-7, de Luna took the next six racks to tie the match at 7-all and reach the hill at 9-7. Lee got some sort of a reprieve when he bagged the next rack to trail, 8-9. De Luna, then with the cue ball at hand after a miscue from Lee, run out the table to make up for the defeat of another Filipino campaigner Lee Van Corteza. Corteza's own campaign hit the brick wall following a 10-8 defeat against David Alcaide of Spain. Corteza was looking at tying the match at 9-all until he missed at ball no. 6, paving the way for Alcaide to reach the next round of the $400,000 tournament. In other results, Pat Holtz of Scotland tamed Kevin Uzzel of England, 10-6 while Chao Fong-pang of Chinese Taipei banished his compatriot Fu Che-Wei of Taipei. Efren "Bata" Reyes is among the Filipinos looking at earning a slot in the round of 16. Reyes is to meet compatriot Ronato Alcano in one of the round of 32 matches late Thursday night. Marlon Manalo, another Filipino who is still in the thick of the fight, will meet another campaigner from Chinese Taipei, Kuo Po-Cheng. Rudy Morta, another Filipno qualifier, was due to face Li He-wen, also of Chinese Taipei. Rodolfo Luat, who earned his round of 32 seat through a 10-5 victory against Jeremy Jones of the USA, will face Roy Apancho. - GMANews.TV