Lining becomes 16th RP bet; Taiwanese also gains

Antonio Lining became the 16th Filipino player to see action in the World Pool Championship next month when he topped Qualifier 6 of the ongoing eliminations at the Star Billiards Center in Quezon City last Monday.

Lining scrambled past two rivals in the early going, winning close matches over John Berille and Jharome Peña. But he stamped his class over Leonardo Andam, 7-4, Florencio Banar, 7-3, and John Salazar to reach the finals against Huang Chune-wei of Taiwan.

Although Huang took the first rack, Lining quickly countered to draw level then won seven of the next eight racks en route to the victory.

Taiwanese Hui-Kai Hsia joined Lining in the main draw slated Nov. 4-12 at the PICC after outlasting local bet Rudy Morta, 9-7, in the final to rule Qualifier 5.

Morta actually raced to a 4-1 lead, only to falter, enabling Hsia to recover and even things up. With Hsia leading at 8-7, Morta had a chance to equalize, but then the Filipino bet missed the 7-ball in a corner pocket and eventually lost the match.