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'Django', Lining dispute World 9-Ball finals berth


From a high of seven entering the last 16, the number of Filipinos vying for the coveted World Pool 9-Ball crown have been reduced Monday to the last two men standing in the semifinal round of this prestigious event at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation Hall in Doha, Qatar. Veteran campaigners Francisco “Django" Bustamante and Antonio Lining emerged as the only Pinoy bets left entering the Final Four and one of them will definitely march his way to the championship round. They will dispute one of the two finals seats when they square off in a race-to-11 semis duel. The other two semifinalists are former two-time world champion Johnny Archer of the United States and Kuo Po Cheng of Chinese Taipei. Bustamante whipped countryman Francisco Felicilda, 11-5, in the quarterfinal round to move within striking distance of playing in his first finals appearance since the 2002 World 9-Ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales. Lining earned a semifinals berth the hard way as he needed to squeak past Oliver Medenilla in a hill-hill encounter, 11-10. Archer, a big-time player during the 1990s, but has struggled the previous years, drubbed Sandor Tot of Serbia, 11-6, while Kuo brought down double world champion Ronnie Alcano of the Philippines, 11-5. The survivors in the Final Four will play in a race-to-13 championship match and the winner will become the year’s first world champion. All semifinalists are assured of at least $10,000 and their prize money can increase depending on the outcome of Monday’s semifinal encounters. Last year, Mika Immonen of Finland and Filipina Rubilen Amit became the only male and female world champions in the only pool discipline played for 2009 – the Ten Ball event. The World 9-Ball Championship was played this year after a two-year absence and any of the four competitors – Bustamante, Lining, Archer and Cheng – can succeed the last champion of this discipline, Daryl Peach of Great Britain, who ruled the event in 2007 in Manila. Bustamante, Lining and Archer have yet to taste defeat in their first six assignments in this tournament. Cheng is the only one coming from the loser's bracket. Bustamante, a former world No.1 player who recently won the Super Billiards League in Winnipeg, Canada, won his first match over Fabrio Petroni of Italy, 9-7; hurdled past Toru Koribayashi of Japan, 9-6; dumped Oliver Ortmann of Germany, 11-2; nipped Ko Pin Yi of Chinese Taipei, 11-8; outplayed compatriot Marlon Manalo in the third round, 11-6; and ripped up-and-coming countryman Felicilda in the quarterfinals, 11-5. For Lining, this will be his second straight semifinals appearance in a major pool event. He went all the way to the Final Four of the World Ten Ball Championship held in Manila last year. A familiar name in local billiards circuit, Lining spent the previous years playing in Japan where he also worked as a translator. - OMG, GMANews.TV

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