Plong Plong enters World Ten Ball Championship semifinals
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/04/2008 4:36 PM
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The once unheralded Demosthenes “Plong Plong” Pulpul has entered the World Ten Ball Championship semifinals after winning his quarterfinal match Saturday.
Pulpul defeated Liu Haitao of China, 11-8.
As of posting time, Pulpul is already battling former world champion Wu Chia Ching of Taiwan in their race-to-11 semifinal match. Wu Chia Ching defeated Mika Immonen in the quarterfinals.
The other semifinal match is between Darren Appleton and Niels Feijen which is scheduled after Pulpul’s match with the Taiwanese champion.
Pulpul became RP’s last hope in the World Ten Ball Championship after five other Filipino hopefuls tumbled one by one from the tournament eliminations at the Philippine International Convention Center Friday night.
Pulpul broke into the quarterfinals by outdueling Yang Shing-Sun of Chinese Taipei in a very thrilling elimination match.
The 23-year-old Cagayan de Oro native fought his way to win the match by just a rack ahead of the Taiwanese, 9-8.
Earlier Friday, Pulpul defeated Japanese player Kazuo Furuta, 9-4, following a spectacular victory over women’s world No. 1 Jasmin Ouschan last Thursday.
Apart from Pulpul’s victory, the Philippine contingent to the inaugural tournament suffered heavy losses on Friday.
Marlon “Marvelous” Manalo and local teen sensation Jericho Bañares suffered stinging defeats in the hands of their respective opponents at the eliminations.
Manalo, who represented the Philippines at the Asian and Southeast Asian Games, earlier beat fellow countryman Victor Arpilleda before losing to Dutch champion Niels Feijen, 9-6.
The 19-year-old Bañares, meanwhile, lost to 2005 World 8-Ball runner up Nick van de Berg of the Netherlands, 9-6. He earlier beat Indonesian Dodong Alwi before losing to the Dutch.
Other Filipinos who were ousted from the $400,000 inaugural tournament were Leonardo Didal and Jeff de Luna.
De Luna suffered a shocking loss to Taiwanese Fu Che-Wei, 9-1, while Didal failed to sustain his run against Yang Ching-Sun of Chinese Taipei, 9-8.
Participants are going after the $100,000 top prize and a chance to be crowned the first World Ten Ball champ.
