Pinoy bet Pulpul, Chinese Guo earn seats to World 10-Ball main draw

After three frustrating days, Demosthenes Pulpul has finally made his way to the main draw of the World Ten Ball Championship in the qualifying stage’s penultimate day. On Friday night, the former WTBC semifinalist joined some of the world’s best players in the Stage 2 as he made short work of Edgar Acaba, 9-2, to book Qualifier No.8 at the Star Billiards Center in Quezon City.

Pulpul, whose name was taken from the Greek orator, made it to the Final Four of the WTBC’s inaugural staging in 2008. He will make his return the third straight times to the biggest pool event of the year that offers $60,000. Although seeded in the first two stagings of the WTBC, Pupul needed to go through the qualifying stage matches this year because of more than a year of inactivity as he's now working in the Middle East. But in the fourth day of competition, Pulpul finally got the job done. He ran roughshod over young Jonas Magpantay in the semifinal round then barely broke out a sweat in defeating the veteran Acaba in this event sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association in cooperation with the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines. Pulpul’s performance overshadowed the exciting finale that happened in Qualifier No. 7 where Guo Hoa of China and Egie Geronimo fought in a hill-hill encounter. In the end, the Chinese cue artist proved to be the steadier player as he salvaged a tense 9-8 win to advance to the main draw. “I thought I was going to lose the match because of how the way he was able to make the first two balls," said Guo thru interpreter Joyren Ting. “But both players really deserve to win the match as both of us played our hearts out." Guo was on verge of wrapping up the match earlier when he won the 14th rack and went up, 8-6. But in the 15th rack, he missed the most important ball — the last ball No.10 — that allowed Geronimo to get a new lease on life. Geronimo continued his roll in the 16th, capped by a 6 and 10 combo to the delight of the crowd. But just when the Filipino was about to complete a come-from-behind win, his run finally hit a snag. He missed the No. 5 at the corner, allowing his Chinese rival to get back at the table and clean up the remaining balls. The qualifying stage matches of the WTBC return at the Star Billiards Center for the final day with the last two spots for the main draw up for grabs. - Rey Joble, GMA News