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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider 'Starboy' AJ Manas faces tall order, battles world champ FSR in Florida 9-Ball Open Last 16

'Starboy' AJ Manas faces tall order, battles world champ FSR in Florida 9-Ball Open Last 16

Published Aug 8, 2026 03:42 pm

At A Glance

  • AJ Manas, the only Filipino standing in the 2026 Florida 9-Ball Open, faces a tall order after forging a Last 16 showdown against world champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain at the Caribe Royale in Orlando.
AJ Manas (Manas / Facebook post)
AJ Manas (Manas / Facebook post)
AJ Manas, the only Filipino standing in the 2026 Florida 9-Ball Open, faces a tall order after forging a Last 16 showdown against world champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain at the Caribe Royale in Orlando.
The 19-year-old Manas scored a 10-3 victory over veteran Jayson Shaw of Great Britain in Round of 32 to arrange an exciting duel versus Ruiz, whose previous 10-4 win came at the expense of Greek Dimitris Loukatos.
They will be battling for a quarterfinal ticket in the high-level six-day competition that offers $225,000 (more than P13.6 million) prize fund and a grand winner’s purse of $40,000 (around P2.4 million).
Before setting up a duel with Ruiz, Manas also took down Austrian Max Lechner, 10-4, in Round of 64, while dealing American Gage Smith a 10-0 romp in the knockout stage opener.
The 2025 Reyes Cup MVP beat Ricky Isaac of Trinidad and Tobago (9-3) and Pascal Dufresne of Canada (9-2) in the first rounds as well.
With his victory, Manas ended up as the only remaining Filipino bet after five of his compatriots, including the country’s top player Carlo Biado, bowed out of contention.
Aside from Biado, who had a call dispute with a referee during the 12th rack of his game with Indonesian Albert Januarta, four other Filipino bets in Jeffrey De Luna, Roland Garcia, Creigh Dumo, and Roberto Gomez got eliminated.

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