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The World Pool Championship
Araneta Coliseum
Quezon City
Metro Manila
Philippines
www.matchroomsport.com
www.worldpoolchampionship.com

3-11 November 2007

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 12
1	Mika Immonen
2	Karl Boyes
3	Lee Van Corteza
4	Goran Mladenovic
5	Tyler Edey
6	Jeremy Jones
7	Chang Pei-Wei
8	Fahad Mohammadi

DAY TWO ROUND UP

WITH HALF of the 16 groups having completed their round one schedule, 32 players have now assumed their positions in the last 64 knock out stages at the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship at the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Manila.

Taking place over nine days, the event is televised live for over 60 hours by ESPN Star Sports of Asia and Sky Sports in the UK as well as being available over the internet on www.worldpoolchampionship.com

A further four groups played today in a total of 40 matches in the $400,000 event. The format is groups of eight players competing in double elimination, with two wins seeing you through to the next round and two losses spelling defeat.

"Read More..." for the details.

The most impressive showing of the day came from Francisco Bustamante of Tarlac who ran seven straight racks against Jeong Young-hwa of Korea en route to a 9-0 whitewash. �Django� had earlier beaten South Africa�s Zbynek Vaic.

Also in Group 9, Oliver Ortmann was one of a trio of former champions who made their way through with 2-0 records. That impressive list also included Mika Immonen (Finland) who sealed his passage with an ill-tempered win over America�s Jeremy Jones, and the Philippines� Alex Pagulayan.

Other Filipinos advancing were Ramil Gallego who hammered Asian 9 Ball Tour winner Chang Jung-ling of Taiwan 9-1 to be the top seed from Group 7.

Lee Van Corteza also went through but not before dropping a game to battling Serbian Goran Mladenovic. The Pinoy star dumped Jeremy Jones out of the competition in the final match on the Group 12 losers� side.

For Mladenovic it was a day to remember. Following his against-the-odds win over Corteza, he was well beaten by rising star Karl Boyes of England.

However, he made it through at the last with a gritty showing against Tyler Edey (Canada), that saw Edey dog a 9 ball to gift the Serb a 9-7 win.

Other notables on their way home include 2004 World Pool Championship runner-up Chang Pei-wei (Taiwan) and quality Filipino Antonio Lining.

The remaining 64 players compete on Monday and Tuesday, with the last 64 commencing on Wednesday 7th November.

Play commences tomorrow (Monday) at 3.30pm as a further four groups battle it out.

DAY TWO STATS

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 7
1	Ramil Gallego
2	Nick van den Berg
3	Chan Keng-Kwang
4	Chang Jun-Lin
5	Kazuo Furuta
6	Dang Jinhu
7	Alwi
8	John Morra

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 8
1	Muhammad Zulfikri
2	Alex Pagulayan
3	Philipp Stojanovic
4	David Alcaide
5	Martin Kempter
6	Rob Saez
7	Hamza Mohammed
8	Stephen Capaldi

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 9
1	Francisco Bustamante
2	Oliver Ortmann
3	Corey Deuel
4	Pham Tuan Ngoc
5	Antonio Lining
6	Jeong Young-Hwa
7	John Wims
8	Zbynek Vaic

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 12
1	Mika Immonen
2	Karl Boyes
3	Lee Van Corteza
4	Goran Mladenovic
5	Tyler Edey
6	Jeremy Jones
7	Chang Pei-Wei
8	Fahad Mohammadi

DAY ONE ROUND UP

WITH FOUR of the 16 groups completing their matches in the opening rounds of the 2007 World Pool Championship, defending champion Ronnie Alcano of Calamba, Philippines, fired out a warning shot to all his rivals that he will not be giving up his title easily.

With all the action taking place on eight Brunswick tables at the storied Araneta Coliseum, Manila, the $400,000 championship featured a revised first round format to separate the field from 128 players down to 64 over the first four days.

Players are grouped into eight with two wins seeing advancement to the knock-out stages and two defeats spelling out elimination from the competition.

Alcano, who took this title a year ago in the same city, only conceded four racks in his two games as he beat lightly regarded Saed Al Mutawa (UAE) 9-3 before hammering Germany�s Harry Stolka 9-1.

Stolka had earlier mounted a great comeback to defeat Alex Lely.

Filipino legend Efren Reyes, a winner of this event in 1999, had looked anything but that as he tamely folded 9-2 against Japanese qualifier Kenichi Uchigaki in the opening match of the tournament on the TV table.

Uchigaki went on to beat Alain Martel of Canada to become the first player in the event to crack the last 64.

However, Reyes knuckled down as he secured wins over Liu Chun-chuan (Taiwan) and Poland�s Tomasz Kaplan to make his way into the last 64 mix.

Another former champion, Wu Chia-ching, had a scare as he was taken down by talented Hungarian Vilmos Foldes 9-7, before recovering to beat England�s Craig Osborne 9-4 to qualify.

Other players who take the higher seedings in the knockout draw with two wins from two games include diminuative Vietnamese Luong Chi Dung, a quarter-finalist last year as well as Foldes.

Lu Hui-chan, another of the army of talented Taiwanese players, scored two good wins against top class opposition as he beat countryman Yang Ching-shun and then Asian Games gold medalist Antonio Gabica to qualify.

Both Yang and Gabica won their losers bracket deciders to secure their spots.

Debutant Joven Bustamante (Philippines) is something of an unknown quantity but wins over Ibrahim Bin Amir and Jonni Fulcher have registered his presence in the tournament.

Tony Drago was another big name to advance with two wins as he dispatched improving New Zealander Ceri Worts in an error-strewn encounter and then made light work of Poland �s Tomasz Kaplan 9-4.

Of the 32 players competing today, 16 have advanced to the last 64 which commences on Wednesday 7th November.

Play continues Sunday at 10.30am as a further four groups battle it out.

DAY ONE STATS

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 1
1	Ronnie Alcano
2	Charlie Williams
3	Alex Lely
4	Harald Stolka
5	Ricky Yang
6	Brady Gollan
7	Xu Meng
8	Sa Al-Mutawa

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 3
1	Luong Chi-Dung
2	Vilmos Foldes
3	Wu Chia-Ching
4	Radoslaw Babica
5	Chu Hung-Ming
6	Craig Osborne
7	Kusano Hisashi
8	Carlos Castro

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 4
1	Lu Hui-Chan
2	Joven Bustamante
3	Yang Ching-Shun
4	Antonio Gabica
5	Ibrahim Bin Amir
6	Jonni Fulcher
7	Enrique Rojas
8	Bruno Muratore

THE 2007 WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
GROUP 6
1	Kenichi Uchigaki
2	Tony Drago
3	Alain Martel
4	Efren Reyes
5	Ceri Worts
6	Tomasz Kaplan
7	Liu Cheng-Chuan
8	Tony Robles

For more information go to:
www.worldpoolchampionship.com

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