Eight Remain to Vie for World 10-Ball Title
World 10-Ball Championships / Manila, Philippines
Mika "The Iceman" Immonen is one of eight payers left kicking at the World 10-Ball Championships in Manila, Philippines.
The 64-player single-elimination format employed at the World 10-Ball Championships has whittled the field down to its last 8 players.
Only one Filipino player remains—Demosthenes Pulpul won his match over Furuta Kazuo 9-4 to match up with Yang Ching-Shun of Chinese Taipei. Pulpul narrowly escaped with a hill-hill win to advance to play China’s Liu Haitao in the quarterfinals. Haitao, after ousting Tyler Edey of Canada 9-6, put Ralf Souquet out as well with a double-hill victory.
Former world 8- and 9-ball champion Wu Chia-Ching is still alive. Having fought through Italy’s Bruno Muratore, he then decimated Shane Van Boening, eliminating him 9-3. Wu’s challenge in the quarterfinals will come from Mika “Iceman” Immonen, who ousted Ko Pin-Yi of Chinese Taipei 9-6 and Mark Gray 9-4 to advance.
Another quarterfinal match will feature Darren Appleton of the United Kingdom and Charlie “The Korean Dragon” Williams. After eliminating Ryu Seung-Woo 9-2 of Korea, Appleton fought to hill-hill against Satoshi Kawabata before winning 9-8. Williams defeated Chang Jung-Lin 9-8 and Fu Che-Wei 9-5, both of Chinese Taipei, to reach the quarterfinals.
View the World 10-Ball Championships tournament brackets
An all-Dutch quarterfinals rounds it out, with reigning world straight pool champion Niels “The Terminator” Feijen matching up with Nick Van Den Berg. Feijen eliminated Spanish champion David Alcaide 9-4 and then Marlon Manalo of the Philippines 9-6 to make it to the quarterfinals, while Van den Berg went through Sweden’s Marcus Chamat 9-2 and Jerico Banares 9-6.
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