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WARREN ?Warrior? Kiamco endured a tough stand from compatriot and double world champion Ronato ?Volcano? Alcano but won, 11-7, on Thursday to advance to the Final 16 of the $150,000 Qatar Open 9-Ball tournament in Doha, Qatar.
Thee 36-year-old Kiamco of Pasil, Cebu will next meet reigning world No. 1 Dennis ?Robocop? Orcollo, who routed former world 9-ball titlist Oliver ?The Machine? Ortmann of Germany, 11-6.
Meanwhile, NBS stalwart and Japan based Ramil ?Bebeng? Gallego preserved his superb run by beating 2006 Doha Asian Games 8-ball gold medallist Satoshi ?Dynamite? Kawabata of Japan, 11-7. The Bacolod City pride Gallego, former Asian 9-ball tour ruler and five-time Japan circuit winner, will meet countryman Francisco ?Django? Bustamante in the next round. Django eliminated Cebuano Antonio ?Ga-Ga? Gabica, 11-2.
The winner of the Kiamco-Orcollo match will face the survivor of the Gallego-Bustamante tussle for a seat in the quarter-final round.
However, Jeffrey ?The Bull? De Luna was the day?s biggest winner when he ousted 2001 World 9-ball champion Mika ?The Iceman? Immonen of Finland, 11-7. He will meet Naoyuki Ooi of Japan, who beat reigning national champion Lee Vann ?The Slayer? Corteza, 11-9.
Joining them in the ?Sweet 16? are 2004 World 9-ball kingpin Alex ?The Lion? Pagulayan, and 2007 World 9-ball finalist Roberto ?Pinoy Superman? Gomez.
Pagulayan nipped fellow World 9-ball ruler Wu Chia-ching of Taiwan, 11-10, while Gomez crushed three-time world junior champion Vilmos Foldes of Hungray, 11-3.
But the country?s most popular cue artist Efren ?Bata? Reyes, Marlon Manalo, Gandy Valle and Middle East based Allan "Surigao" Cuartero were booted out in this race-to-11, single knock-out event.
Reyes bowed to fellow World 9-ball ruler Ralf ?Kaiser? Souquet of Germany, Manalo bowed to Thomas Engert of Germany, 11-8, Valle yielded to 2007 US Open 9-ball ruler Shane Van Boening of the United States, 11-10, and Cuartero lost to Niels "The Terminator" Feijen of the Netherlands, 11-3. Correspondent MARLON BERNARDINO
