Fresh from his breakthrough win in the Reno Open in Nevada, USA, the former snooker champion leads a long list of bidders in the Philippine International 9-Ball Open qualifying round on June 25-26 at the Robinson’s Galleria Trade Hall.
The top 12 finishers in the double knockout event will join the 20 seeded players in the main draw of the event.
Already secured of spots in the main draw are Filipinos Efren "Bata" Reyes, Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Alex Pagulayan, Americans Johnny Archer, Gabe Owen, Corey Deuel, Rodney Morris and Charlie Williams, European pool stars Mika Immonen, Neils Feijen, Thorstenn Hohmann, Tony Drago, Marcus Chamat and Thomas Engert, Taiwanese big guns Chao Fong Pang, Yang Ching Shun and Wu Chia Ching, Japanese aces Satoshi Kawabata and Kunihiko Takahashi and Korean Jeong Young Hwa. The qualifying round is not lacking in stars either.
Aside from Manalo, the other top Filipino cue masters competing in the qualifiers are Asian 9-Ball Tour winners Gandy Valle and Ronnie Alcano, world pool runner-up Chang Pei Wei and Asian 9-Ball Tour mainstays Patrick Ooi and Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia.
The top three Filipina players — Mary Ann Basas, Rubileen Amit and Irish Rañola — will also try their luck in the qualifier.
Actions in the five-day event will be aired live on Solar Sports from 2 p.m.
The event co-organized by Solar Sports and Puyat Sports offers $20,000 to the champion, $10,000 to second, $4,000 each to the losing semifinalists, $2,000 each to fifth and sixth, $1,000 each to seventh and eighth, $750 each to ninth to 12th, $500 each to 13th-16th, $300 each to 17th-24th and $200 each to 25th-32nd.