By Jerome Lagunzad
Team Philippines passed its initial test in the 2018 World Cup of Pool with flying colors yesterday with an impressive 7-3 victory over New Zealand at the Luwan Arena in Shanghai, China.
Composed of reigning world 9-ball champion Carlo Biado and world No. 16 Jeffrey De Luna, the Filipinos dropped the opening frame but took the next five then showed enough poise to hold off the late charge of Kiwi rivals Matt Edwards and Marco Teutscher.
Biado and De Luna advanced to the Last 16 round of the single-elimination tourney that dangles a total prize of $250,000 and will take on the winner of the Korea-England encounter which will be played later in the day.
Spain also came out victorious in Day 2 as David Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz eliminated Vietnamese foes Duong Quoc Hoang and Nguyen Anh Tuan, 7-3.
In the opening day last Tuesday, defending champion Austria, formed by Mario He and Albin Ouschan, rallied from a 0-3 deficit and dodged the upset ax of Chileans Enrique Rojas and Alejandro Carvajal.
Standing in the way of Austria in Last 16 is Poland, which defeated Kuwait, 7-4.
The Netherlands and Scotland also forged a big showdown in the next round after the former defeated Thailand, 7-5, and the latter turned back Canada, 7-3.
Meanwhile, Germany blanked Indonesia, 7-0.
