De Luna sees easy victory vs Corteza
Cool, cocky and confident, young Filipino pool master Jeff de Luna sees easy sailing against compatriot Lee Van Corteza at the start of the knockout stage today.
The two local bets have found themselves on collision course in the Round of 64 after their contrasting victories in the group plays. De Luna, 23, swept his way from Group 5 while Corteza, 28, took the three-game route in Group 12.
De Luna is oozing with confidence coming from a triumphant finish in the Pacman 9-Ball tourney just a few days ago. He was a quarterfinalist in the WPC then placed second in the Doha Asiad 9-ball event last year.
With 16 seats left in the hunt for the Final 64, the two were the only ones drawn in an all-Filipino battle.
Django Bustamante battles
The rivals of Efren “Bata” Reyes, Ronnie Alcano, Joven Bustamante, Leonardo Andam and Antonio Gabica have yet to be determined at press time.
Alcano and Pagulayan are in the upper bracket with Mika Immonen while Bata and Django are in the lower group with Earl Strickland, Ralf Souquet, Corey Deuel and Wu Chia-ching.
With a day left in the elims, one former champion and five other seeded bets have been booted out in the hunt for the $100,000 top prize.
Fifth seed Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, the 2003 titlist, joined 14th seed Li He-wen of China, 29th pick Jonni Fulcher of Scotland, No. 31 Ronnie Wiseman of Canada and No. 32 Ricky Yang of Indonesia in the sidelines.
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While the host country sent 12 bets to the knockout stage, the Taiwanese were not far behind with seven in Chang Jung-lin, Kuo Po-cheng, Wu Chia-ching, Yang Ching-shun, Lu Hui-chan, Fu Che-wei and Ko Pin-ye.
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