The vaunted Filipino challenge fizzled out in the World 9-ball Championship on Thursday, with all five hopefuls crashing out of contention in Doha.
Former world No. 1 Dennis Orcollo was the last of the Filipinos to fall after barging into the quarterfinals only to be waylaid by American Shane van Boening.
Orcollo’s defeat was stunning as he flashed good form to best American Hunter Lombardi, 11-7, in the last 32, and former world champion Darren Appleton of Britain, 11-2, in the last 16.
Warren Kiamco subdued Jalal Youself, to reach the last 16, where he yielded to Taiwanese Ko Pin-yi, 11-9. Bowing out of the last 32 were Carlo Biado, Jeffrey Ignacio and Oliver Medenilla.
Biado lost to Yi, 11-4; Ignacio got beat by Singaporean Aloisius Yap, 11-6; and Medenilla faltered against Taiwanese Chang Yu-long, 11-4.
The semifinals of the $200,000 event pits van Boening against Taiwanese Ko Pin-ching, younger brother of Pin-yi, who will clash with China’s Wu Jiaqing. Roy Luarca