Biadi, Chua advance in World Cup of Pool

VETERAN cue masters Carlo Biado and Johann Chua posted a 7-4 win over Waleed Majid and Bashar Hussain of Qatar to advance to the Last 16 of the prestigious 2017 World Cup of Pool being held at the York Hall in London, England.

Biado and Chua arranged a second-round meeting with Niels Fiejen of Nick Van Den Berg of the Netherlands who blasted Gabor Solymosi and Gabor Antal of Hungary via an impressive 7-0 decision.

The Philippines-Netherlands match is at 6:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. Saturday in Manila).

Defending champions Ko Pin Yi and Chang Yu Lung of Taiwan also cruised into the next round by beating Bader Al Alawi and Mohammad Saleh Al Kashawi of Kuwait (73) while Mateusz Sniegocki and Wojiech Szewczyk of Poland survived Nikos Ekonomopoulos and Alex Kazakis of Greece (7-6) to likewise enter the next stage.

Also securing slots in the Last 16 were David Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain, Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, Jayson Shaw and Pat Holtz of Scotland, Imran Majid and Daryl Peach of England-B, and Ruslan Chinakov and Konstantin Stepanov of Russia.

Japan’s Naoyuki Oi and Hijikata Hayato, and Finland’s Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen earned the first two slots in the quarterfinals by ousting their respective opponents in the second round of the tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association.

Oi and Hayato stunned favorites Alex Pagulayan and John Morra of Canada (7-3) while Immonen and Makkonen defeated Raj Hundal and Amar Kang of India (7-4).

A total of $250,000 cash prize is at stake in the tournament with the winner taking $60,000 and the runner-up getting $30,000.

Biado and Chua are aiming to claim the country’s fourth title in the tournament.

Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante won twice - in 2006 and 2009 - while Dennis Orcollo and Lee Vann Corteza ruled the event in the 2013 edition.