Former World Pool Championship runner-up Roberto Gomez and up-and-coming Carlo Biado of the Philippines are hoping to join their seeded compatriots in the main draw of the Beijing Open, which begins on April 28 at the Beijing Yuetan Stadium in China.
Gomez and Biado have started competing in the qualifying stage in hope of earning a seat in the main draw where the world’s current top 16 players and past and present world champions are already seeded.
This was confirmed to GMA News by Perry Mariano, manager of Biado and Gomez.
“Nagsimula na sila (Biado and Gomez) sa qualifying stage while Dennis (Orcullo) is already seeded," Mariano said in a text message.
Orcullo, the best player in Mariano’s Bugsy Promotions stable, is the newly-crowned World 8-Ball champion who climbed his way to the world’s No.2 spot after making it to the quarterfinal round of the recently-concluded Philippine Open Pool Championship.
Lining, on the other hand, made it to the top after another solid performance in the event sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association. He reached the No. 1 ranking after barging his way to the semifinal round of the Philippine Open.
And with reigning World 9-Ball champion Francisco “Django" Bustamante skipping the Philippine Open, Lining was able to take over the spot of the previous world no. 1 player.
Lining’s Final Four stint has assured him of 325 points, the most ranking points garnered by any Pinoy player in the 64-player main draw of the Philippine Open.
But Bustamante will see action in the Beijing Open where his favorite discipline is being played — the 9-Ball event.
Since winning the World 9-Ball event in Doha, Qatar, last year, Bustamante has yet to get additional ranking points. He is currently the world’s No.3 player with 1292 ranking points. He is only 38 points behind Orcullo and 243 points behind Lining.
After the Beijing Open, most of the participants in the Beijing Open are expected to return to the Philippines to join two more WPA events — the Gap tournament and the World Ten Ball Championship.
The Gap tournament is an event put up by the WPA where a total of $10,000 prize fund is at stake.
Only the players who participated in the Beijing Open and will compete in the World Ten Ball Championship next month are qualified to join in the Gap 10-Ball event, according to WPA president Ian Anderson.
"This is a short tournament (Gap) put up by the WPA to allow the players competing in the World Ten Ball Championship a chance to warm up before plunging to action in the big event," said Anderson.
The World Ten Ball Championship will be hosted by the Philippines for the third time in four years. A total of 128 of the world's best players will join in the biggest pool event of the year.
- Rey Joble/HS, GMA News
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