Roberto Gomez and Jeff de Luna aim to add their names into the list of Filipino winners when they compete in the World Pool Championship which starts Sunday, June 6 in Milton Keynes, England.
The two cue artists will be the only Filipinos who qualified for the prestigious 9-ball competition which is making a comeback into British soil after Matchroom Sport regained rights to stage the event.
Doha, Qatar hosted the event which was called the World 9-Ball Championship from 2010 to 2019 while last year’s edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gomez and De Luna are looking to join Efren “Bata” Reyes (1999), Ronnie Alcano (2006), Django Bustamante (2010) and Carlo Biado (2017) as the only Filipinos to win the tournament.
De Luna opens his campaign in Group A against Dimitri Djungo of Switzerland while Gomez kicks off his own title bid in Group B opposite a player which organizers will determine on a later date.
The group stage will use a double-elimination format meaning that both Filipino players must win two matches in order to advance to the knockout stage or suffer an early exit with two defeats.
Gomez and De Luna are coming off a stint as teammates representing the country in the World Cup of Pool also in Milton Keynes where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Estonia’s Denis Grabe and Mark Magi.