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Four Pinoys hot, into US Open 9-Ball's last 16

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/23/2008 4:06 PM

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Four of Philippine billiards' biggest stars -- Ronnie "The Volcano" Alcano, Lee Van Corteza, Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Jose "Amang" Parica -- have earned for themselves slots in the last 16 of the US Open 9-Ball Championship in Chesapeake, Virginia.

But somebody in the Alcano-Corteza pair may find himself going to the one-loss side as the two Filipino cue masters face each other in one of the last 16 matches on Thursday.

Bustamante at 4-0, meanwhile, faces little known Oscar Dominguez in another exciting match.

Parica, on the other hand, has been matched up against Shane Van Boening.

Alcano's entry into the last 16 was courtesy of an 11-8 victory over Tyler Edey of Canada. Corteza, meanwhile, defeated Shannon Daulton of the US, 11-9.

He now has a bigger chance of duplicating the victories notched by compatriots Efren "Bata" Reyes (1994) and Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan (2005) in the tournament that promises $40,000 as top prize.

In the other round of 32 match, Parica went past through Sweden's Marcus Chamat, 11-9.

Boening, incidentally, outlasted compatriot Charlie Williams, 11-6.

Aside from the Filipinos and Van Boening, former world champions Mika Immonen, Thorsten Hohmann and Johnny Archer, Rodney Morris, Adam Smith, Shawn Putnam, Brandon Shuff, Raj Hundal and Petri Makkonen are the unbeaten players who have earned slots for the fifth stage.

as of 10/23/2008 5:22 PM