Gregorio Sanchez with his Venezuelan teammates
Gregorio Sanchez of Venezuela is the champion of the II International Open of the
Americas 10 ball in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic held on September 14 - 16. Sanchez defeated his compatriot Frailin Guanipa 13-9 in a match full of emotion
from the beginning to the end.
32 players from different countries competed in the tournament in double elimination groups of 8, qualifying for a 16 player single elimination format. The last 8 finalists in the quarterfinals were Ramon Diaz (Rep Dom.) Vs. Juan Kelner (Rep Dom), Rubén Bautista (México) vs. Frailin Guanipa (Venezuela), Franlin Hernández (USA) vs Rafael Dabreu (Sant vincent) and Gregorio Sánchez (Venezuela) vs. Ricardo Mejía (Rep. Dom).
Scores from that round were
Ramón Díaz (10), Juan Kelner (1)
Rubén Bautista (3), Frailin Guanipa (10)
Gregorio Sánchez (10), Ricardo Mejía (1)
Franklin Hernandez (4), Rafael Dabreu (10)
The 4 semi-final matches were
Frailin Guanipa (11), vs Ramon Diaz (4)
Gregorio Sánchez (11) vs Rafael Dabreu (1)
The final match between the Venezuelans Freilin Guanipa and Gregorio Sanchez was an extended race to sixteen that saw Guanipa with a 9-4 advantage, only to see Sanchez come back and win 9 games in a row for first place in the event.
