They came to conquer. Out of the 128 of the world's best cue masters from 46 countries around the world, the final 8 will match nerves of steel at the pool table for the illustrious 2007 World Pool Championship title and a winner's prize of $100,000.The quarterfinals are being held as of writing, which will be followed by two semis matches later in the afternoon. The final showdown between the semis winners will rack up tomorrow, Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila, Philippines 2:30pm Manila time (GMT+8).
Since it opened November 3, 2007 many of the masters already fell. The entire 4-man Australian team and the 12-man USA contingent have been eliminated. Crowd favorites and pool masters like, Efren Reyes (Philippines), Johnny Archer (USA), Earl Strickland (USA) and Ralph Soquet (Germany) were also brought down. From 128, the numbers fell to 64, then 32 then 16. Only the 8 best 9-ball pool players for 2007 remain for the coveted championship.
Four matches are currently playing at the quarterfinals. The Philippines' veteran pool artist Francisco "Django" Bustamante , seeded at number 9, plays opposite 17th seed Daryl Peach of England.
Bustamante is itching for his first world championship win following his exceptional complete sweep of the US Pro-tour Championship and besting USA's Johnny Archer at the finals earlier in June of this year. Among the most popular Filipino pool athletes such as the legendary 1999 World Pool Champion Efren "The Magician" Reyes and 2004 World Pool Champion Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan, only Bustamante survived the gruelling qualifying rounds.
Daryl "Dazzler" Peach comes into the competition fresh from winning the 2007 Euro Tour German Open Championships. On the way to the quarterfinals, he defeated Filipinos Rodolfo Luat and 2006 World Pool Champion Ronato "The Volcano" Alcano.
England's Karl "The Bomb" Boyes competes versus another Filipino Joven Bustamante (not related to Francisco Bustamante). They both debut this year at the World Pool Championships, with the younger Boyes carrying more tournament wins over the up and coming Bustamante.
Number 12 seed and the only former World Pool Champion to enter the last stages, Finland's Mika "Iceman" Immonen (2001 WPC title holder) battles unseeded Vilmos "The Magic Magyar" Foeldes of Hungary. Can Foeldes, the 3-time European Youth Champion come up with an upset and cut Immonen's bid for another WPC crown?
Also at the quarterfinals tables, the final hope of the 11-man Chinese Tai-pei contingent, "Little Monster" Kuo Po-Cheng takes on the third Philippine bet Roberto "Superman" Gomez.
Who is your bet for the 2007 World Pool Championships?
No comments:
Post a Comment