Final 32

I ended up playing De Luna again in the first elimination round. There seemed to be a lot of repeat matches in this particular tournament. For the record.

I started off strong gaining a 3-0 lead. Then the Pool gods started to smile on De Luna.

The referee had a really hard time racking the pool properly, which was in De Luna's favor. He really breaks the balls so hard that eventually at least one of the balls finds a pocket to go to. I on the other hand prefer a more accurate break which wasn't very rewarding in this case. It was almost funny how the rack spread. I think one the breaks I barely got three balls to touch a rail.

On top of having difficulties getting balls on the break I got rattled by the filipino crowd a bit. Some of them were cheering when I scratched or even missed. Its sometimes hard to fade when things are not going your way to begin with. I wish the crowd was more educated about this. Its one thing rooting for your countryman, but yelling "scratch!" even before the cue ball is in the pocket is outright rude and obnoxious.

I lost 11-6. So it was a disappointment.

Group Stage

I won my match to get to the final 32, It was exciting, I was up most of the time but Jeffrey De Luna caught up with me and tied 7-7. Then he played a safety but I was able to kick it in thanks to the mirror system. So I ended up winning 9-7.

The field here is like a world Championships, maybe even tougher because the concentration of quality is high and there are hardly any easy draws when it comes to the final 32.

Qatar Open

It seems a very big field but the only have 8 tournament tables. thats why It's just 1 match per day so far. Other than that I am resorting to watching Wimbledon on tv.
Its not really a tourist paradise here, Price of a beer in the hotel is around 9 dollars. It's hard to even catch a taxi on the street. . The other day when we were waiting for one it felt like standing next to an exhaust of a bus on Las Vegas strip in the afternoon sun. Though the sun had already set here.

The action is slowly under way here in Qatar. I won my first round yesterday morning against Ibica Putnik from Kroatia. Today I play in the afternoon 4 pm.

The Other Mezz team mates are also doing good. Marcus Chamat beat the red hot Taiwanese young Champion Kuo 9-7, Alex Pagulayan beat Archer 9-2(what a draw), and the Hijigata from Japan beat Ralf Souquet himself 9-6. Jeffrey De Luna also beat a Taiwanese representative 9-7. I will actually face him today

Actually I have to go play now, match starts in an hour and 10 min.

More of that later...