At the start of the knockout stage, James "Dodong Diamond" Aranas, Anthony Raga, Lauro Bongay, and Demosthenes Pulpul defeated their respective rivals to get a rousing start. They joined compatriots Carlo Biado, Johann Chua, Jeffrey de Luna, and Kyle Amoroto at the beginning of the knockout stage.
Aranas, who got a bye in the first round, beat Andri of Indonesia and Erwin of Indonesia, 9-5, to move into the round-of-32 opposite Duong Quoc Hong of Vietnam.
Aranas made a name for himself in the billiard community after winning numerous tournaments on the US pool circuit.
On the other hand, Raga blasted Tanes Tanasomboon of Thailand, 9-3, Abdul Wale of Brunei, 9-2, and Desmond Goh of Singapore, 9-6, to meet Dang Thanh Kien of Vietnam.
Bongay, in the meantime, stamped his class by beating Nuyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam, 9-3; Son Truong of Vietnam, 9-3; and Abdullah Al Muntaser Siddiqui of Bangladesh, 9-2, to test the mettle of David Bala of Singapore.
For his part, Pulpul took a bye in the first round and then subdued Chetan Chhabra of India, 9-3; Shoman Tong of Singapore, 9-4; and Tan Yong Wei of Singapore, 9-4, to face Nguyen Hong Phong of Vietnam.
Amoroto trounced Andri, 9-3, to slug it out with Luong Duc Thien of Vietnam.
In other exciting match-ups, Chua goes up against De Luna, while Biado goes up against Robbie Capito of Hong Kong.(Romeo Braceros Jr.)
Photo: Francis Lumahan