 Gabe Owen withdrew citing travel issues |
Play concluded late Wednesday night as the 2006 Philippines World Pool Championship Qualifying Event reached its climax at the Star Billiards Center at Quezon City and there were five more lucky players taking their spots in the starting line for the main event which gets underway this Saturday November 4.
Tomoo Takano become the fourth Japanese player to reach the event proper as he got the better of Filipino Elvis Perez 9-6 to take the final spot in Group 3 alongside 2003 WPC Champion Thorsten Hohmann, Filipino Canadian Edwin Montal and England's Andy Worthington.
In the last event it was seasoned local pro Leonardo Andam who won through as he took out young Japanese player Ryoji Aoki in a tense decider.
Andam, a quarter finalist in this event in 2001, has not appeared in the WPC since '02 and he will relish the opportunity to carry the flag for the Philippines. ‘The Rattlesnake' will appear in Group 7, headed by Germany's Ralf Souquet.
There were four more players whose week of qualifying concluded in the best possible way as they headed up the table of ‘lucky losers' for the players who did not win an event but gained the most points due to performances throughout the week.
Chin Ju-chen of Taiwan becomes Qualifier 11 and the Filipino trio of Jharome Pena, Rudy Morta and Israel Rota all get the nod as Qualifiers 12, 13 and 14 respectively.
Rota can count himself the most fortunate as he takes the place of 2003 US Open Champion Gabe Owen (USA) who withdrew on Tuesday citing reservations about travelling.
If any further players drop out then first alternate is America's Max Eberle whose runner's up spot in one event and semi-final in another were enough to put him in pole position.
