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NATIONAL junior champion Jericho Banares continued to
amaze his more seasoned rivals in the $30,000 Mandaluyong Mayor’s
Cup 10-Ball Championship at the Kaban ng Hiyas Building in
Mandaluyong City.
The teenager who will represent
the country in this year’s World Pool Junior Championship in Los
Angeles, California, blasted Chung Chien-Te of Taiwan, 9-5, Friday
to remain undefeated after three rounds in the event presented by
San Miguel Beer.
Local hero Marlon Manalo and Doha
Asian Games gold medal winner Antonio Gabica also remained on the
right side of the draw following similar 9-4 wins over Gerald
Carbonera and Courtney Symons of England.
The other undefeated players
after three rounds were Mario Tolentino, Allan Soliman, Japanese
standouts Keniji Taguchi and Tomoo Takano and former world 9-ball
champion Thorsten “The Hitman” Hohmann of Germany.
Tolentino trounced Bernard
Flores, 9-5, Soliman shocked 2006 Doha Asian Games 8-ball gold
medalist Satoshi Kawabata of Japan, 9-5, Taguchi stopped the
giant-killing ways of Alex Nobleza, and Takano nipped Raymond Faraon,
9-5.
Hohmann, also a former winner of
the WPC 9-ball, led 6-0 before coasting to a 9-4 victory over
Canada’s Gary Watson.
Leonardo “Dodong” Andam, who
defeated Jeff de Luna on on Thursday night, scored a 9-8 victory
over Raymond Faraoan to keep his winning form on the loser’s side.
Meanwhile, two-time world
champion Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer of the United States,
former Philippine Cue Artists Association president Edgar
“Malabon” Acaba Sr., Leonardo Didal, James Al Ortega and Yong
Bak Wang of Japan won their respective matches to stay in contention
in this double elimination tournament.
--Noli S. Cruz
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