Doha: Qatar’s Ali Obaidly coasted to an easy win over Mohammad Ali Berjaoui of Lebanon while Jeong Young Hwa of Korea stunned two-time world champion Efren Reyes of the Philippines on day one of 2014 World 9-ball Championship (W9BC) here yesterday.
Yesterday at Al Sadd Stadium, Reyes’ loss was the only upset on the opening day of the $200,000 championship sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association.
Most of the top players won their matches while the losers will try their luck via the losers bracket to advance to the round of 64. Qatar’s Obaidly, one of the six local players featuring in round of 128, won 9-4 over his Lebanese opponent.
Qatar had more success when last year’s runners -up Antonio Gabica (pictured), assistant coach at Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF), defeated Kuo Po Cheng of Chinese Tapei 9-5. Gabica said he was taking it match by match.
“There is a lot of pressure on me. My target to reach the round of 64. I was lucky to win my first match,” said the Filipino, who is participating in his first major tournament after finishing runner-up to Thorsten Hohmann of Germany in last year’s championship.
The Filipino lost 13-7 to Hohmann in the final.
Asked if the last year’s lost is on his mind he said: “Last year’s tournament I had good run and I hope to continue with the good run,” he said.
Players contesting in the final round are divided into 16 groups of eight players each. Four players from each group will advance into the last 64.
The round of 64 will be single elimination with race to 1, while the final will be round of 13. All matches are by the alternate break. The Peninsula
