The group stages of the Qatar 9-Ball Open continue with only a very few surprises. As already mentioned, the biggest upset thus far is that the defending champion Dennis Orcullo went two and out in this tournament. The normally powerful Serge Das has also been eliminated. Since then things have gone pretty much as expected, but some of your favorites may be in a bit of a precarious position.
Thorsten Hohmann is now on the one-loss side after losing an ugly one to Wang Hsiang Hung 9-4. Mika Immonen used that same scoreline to send Antonio Gabica out on the one-loss plank while Radislaw Babica narrowly edged Marlon Manalo on the hill to send Marvelous Marlon over to the nervous side as well. Others needing no more losses to survive include Imran Majid (lost to Chin Shun Yang), Karl Boyes (lost to Van Boening), Marcus Chamat (lost to Akakariyama), Ricky Yang (lost to Ko Pin Yi) and Dimitri Jungo, who lost to Fu Che Wei.
Known survivors into the single-elimination stage are our undefeated players who now become the seeded players going into the single-elimination stage. These players are: Ralf Souquet, Fu Che Wei, Ko Pin Yi, Yukio Akakariyama, Shane Van Boening, Ching Shun Yang, Kuo Po Cheng, Darren Appleton, Niels Feijen, Chris Melling, Radislaw Babica, Mika Immonen, Daryl Peach, Vilmos Foldes, H.H. Wang, and Mateusz Sniegocki.
We would like to know a lot more about Sniegocki. This Polish player has beaten three Filipino players (Roat, Orcullo and Joven) and is a name that is now centered on our radar. As soon as we know the final results of the group stages we will let you know the match-ups in the single-elimination stage.
Qatar 9-Ball Open Group Stages Continue
July 3, 2009