By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
The country’s flickering title hope was snuffed out as Marvin Asis, the last Filipino survivor in the knocked out stage, absorbed a 10-4 beating from American veteran Shane Van Boening in the Round of 16 of the Florida Open on Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando.
With the loss, the 25-year-old Asis joined seven other Filipinos who crashed out in the earlier stages that include reigning world pool champion Carlo Biado.
A victory could have set him up with a quarterfinal match with Canadian John Morra, but Boening, a former 8-ball and 9-ball world champion, was too much to handle.
With the defeat, Asis settled for the $4,000 (around P200,000) consolation prize from the $200,000 (around P11.3 million) total purse.
Meanwhile, up next for the Filipino cue artists is the prestigious US Open Pool Championship set on Aug. 18 to 23 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
