From the sixty-four champions who began the quest for glory only days ago we are now down to only eight men who can claim the WPA World Eight Ball Championship cup. Yesterday's matches left us with a battle between the Phillipines and Northern Europe. First, a look at yesterday's results.
Marlon Manalo (PHI) d. Thomas Engert (GER) 10-5 Michael Schmidt (GER) d. Daryl Peach (ENG) 10-7 Radoslaw Babica (POL) d. Thorsten Hohmann (GER) 10-9 Alex Pagulayan (CAN) d. Vilmos Foeldes (HUN) 10-9 Niels Feijen (NED) d. Elemer Haya (UAE) 10-6 Francisco Bustamante (PHI) d. Kasper Thygesen (DEN) 10-4 Marcus Chamat (SWE) d. Patrick Ooi Fook Yuen (SIN) 10-8 Efren Reyes (PHI) d. Ralf Souquet (GER) 10-6
This sets up todays rounds. Matches scheduled for today are:
Marlon Manalo (PHI) v. Michael Schmidt (GER) Alex Pagulayan (CAN) v. Radoslaw Babica (POL) Niels feijen (NED) v. Francisco Bustamante (PHI) Marcus Chamat (SWE) v. Efren Reyes (PHI)
All of these men are playing in top form. Reyes, however, seems to be most at ease on the tables. During practice he is kicking balls in from everywhere. This reporter watched him kick in four two-rail shots in a row, one of which was a combination shot and another was a kick-carom. Unbelievable. The crowd is also heavily on his side, cheering his every move.
The way today's matches happened to fall no two Filipinos are playing one another. Pagulayan is here representing Canada, but the crowd has lumped him in with Reyes, Manalo and Bustamante and the large Filipino population here considers him one of the homeboys.
Tonight will have both the quarter and the semi final matches played out, so the report tomorrow will have these results and we will then know the two men who will challenge one another for the title.
