Archer shows door to Kawabata; Andam stays alive
By Musong R. Castillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:51:00 05/09/2008
MANILA, Philippines--After getting some sleep and feeling sharper, Johnny Archer claimed his biggest victim Friday in Satoshi Kabawata with a 9-4 decision that sent the Japanese No.1 crashing out of the $30,000 Mandaluyong Mayor's Cup 10-ball championship.
Struggling all throughout Thursday after jetlag kicked in, Archer got the rest he needed and played workmanlike when it mattered, zooming to a 5-1 lead that Kabawata never surmounted.
The Japanese became the second big gun to hit the showers after Jeffrey De Luna.
"I played a lot better in that match," Archer said, before returning to the Kaban ng Hiyas Auditorium to play another match, this time against Leonardo Didal, a 9-5 winner over Gilbert Carbonera.
Veteran Leonardo Andam also sustained his march in the losers' side, posting two victories Friday to make a strong statement for the $10,000 champion's purse.
The 52-year-old Andam, who bundled out De Luna with a methodical 9-5 victory Thursday night, first took care of Raymond Faraon in come-from-behind fashion, 9-8, before ousting Englishman Courtney Symons, 9-4.
Kabawata was earlier relegated to the losers' draw after taking a 9-5 defeat at the hands of unheralded Allan Soliman, who earned a winner's draw date with fancied hometown boy Marlon Manalo, a 9-4 winner over Carbonera on Thursday.
That Soliman-Manalo match was scheduled late Friday night, like the Thorsten Hohmann-Ken Taguchi tussle and the Antonio Gabica-Tomoo Takano joust in the winners' bracket.
All quarterfinal matches, which will be determined after Friday night's schedule, will be played Saturday, with the semifinals set to be concluded before lunchtime Sunday.
The title match will be played from 3 p.m. also Sunday.
Another local bet who has so far gone undefeated until Friday was Tolentino, who advanced further after a 9-5 victory over Bernard Flores.
Tolentino, the first man to beat Archer in the event, marched to face RP junior champion Jericho Banarez, who has also had a string of convincing conquests. capped by a 9-5 win over Taiwanese Ching Chien-te.
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