MANILA, Philippines - Ramil Gallego of the Philippines and Wang Ming of China earned seats to the main draw of the World Ten-Ball Championships after ruling their respective events in the qualifying stage held at the Star Billiards Center Thursday night.
Gallego secured a seat in the main draw after hurdling past former World Pool Championships runner-up Roberto Gomez, 9-7, in the finals. It was actually an All-Filipino show up to the semifinals of Event 2 as Arnel Bautista and Rodrigo Geronimo also barged into the Final Four.
Gallego beat Geronimo, 7-3, while Gomez ripped Bautista, 7-1.
While Event 2 was dominated by Filipinos, Event 1 was an All-Chinese show.
Four Chinese players led by Wang, Dai Yung, Guo Hoa and Dang Jin Hu secured berths in the Final Four. In the crossover semis, Dang nipped Guo, 7-5, while Wang subdued Dai, 7-4.
Wang then upstaged Dang in a hill-hill finals encounter, 9-8, before securing a seat in the main draw of the WTBC to be held Nov.25-30 at the World Trade Center.