De Luna lone undefeated Pinoy in tough China Open

MANILA, Philippines – Jeffrey de Luna became the lone Filipino bet that remains undefeated in the in the tough China Open after three of his compatriots suffered mixed fortunes. De Luna coasted to his second straight win after two days here in Shanghai ripping local bet Li Hi Wen, 11-4, to enter the Round of 32 in the World Pool-Billiard Association’s second ranking pool tour event of the year. The power-breaking Filipino, who finished runner-up to Indonesian Ricky Yang in the Philippine Open Pool Championship last month, will join Germans Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann and Americans Shane Van Boening and Charlie Williams and Do Hoang Quan of Vietnam in the second round. Marlon Manalo and Demosthenes Pulpul dropped their respective matches while Antonio Gabica earned a much-needed win that kept his title hopes alive in the tournament. Manalo suffered an 11-6 setback to Yang Chin-Shun of Chinese Taipei while Pulpul got smothered by local bet Dang Jin Ho of China demolished Demosthenes Pulpul, 11-3. Gabica, who lost his opening round match, coasted to an 11-3 win over China’s Cong Cheng. But Manalo, a former Asian snooker champion, restored some measure of pride by salvaging a much-needed victory Friday to stay in contention in the event. The pride of Mandaluyong City beat Louis Condo of Australia, 11-5. – GMANews>TV