Gabica, Phl's last bet, crashes out

CEBU, Philippines - Cebuano shotmaker Antonio "Gaga" Gabica, the last man standing out of the 17-man Philippine contingent, crashed out of the $300,000 World 9-Ball Championship at the Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.

Gabica, who is the coach of Qatar national team, came off a thriller with former world champion Mika "The Flying Finn" Imonnent of Finland, 11-9, but fell prey to Lee He Wen of China, 9-11, in their quarterfinal match.

Lee looked like a machine in the first half of the match, racing to an 8-4 start and then maintained a 9-5 lead.     

The pride of Lapu-Lapu City crawled back with savvy to pull within just a hairline, 9-10, but Lee broke and ran to book his place in the semis.

Gabica, the best placed Filipino entry in the week-long tournament, took home $5,000 for making it to the final 16.

In the semis, Lee will go up against Ralf Soquet of Germany, who eliminated Nick van den Berg of the Netherlands, 11-9.

The other semifinal duel features Darren Appleton of England versus Ohi Naoyuki of Japan. Appleton ousted Pin Yi Ko of Chinese-Taipei, 11-19, while Naoyuki bundled out Karl Boyes of England.

The champion will pocket $40,000, while the loser will receive $20,000. (FREEMAN)