Valle, Arpilleda head 10-Ball hopefuls

MANILA, Philippines - Several top players from the first 64 participants plunged into action at the start of the World Ten-Ball Championships qualifiers at the Star Billiards Center Thursday.

Among the notable participants included two-time Asian Games gold medalist Gandy Valle and former SEA Games champion Victor Arpilleda and Joven Bustamante of the Philippines, Wang Ming of China, Kenji Taguchi and Kenichi Uchigaki of Japan and Rudy Susanto of Indonesia.

Valle, one of the best bets of Bugsy’s Promotions of Perry Mariano, went up against Wu Sen Lin of Chinese-Taipei as he bids for a spot in the main draw of the WTBC set Nov. 25-30 at the World Trade Center.

Arpilleda faced Korean Jang Moon Seok while Bustamante took on Ak Asmali Bin.

Wang squared off with Chinese-Taipei’s Hung Wang Cheng while Taguchi went up against Mick Hill and Uchigaki clashed with Don Don Razalan of the Philippines.  

Around 128 participants have registered for the qualifying event vying for the last 10 spots for the main draw.