By MARK REY MONTEJO
AJ Manas, the last Filipino standing, faces a tall order after forging a Last 16 showdown against world champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain in the 2026 Florida 9-Ball Open Pool Championship at the Caribe Royale in Orlando.
While other Filipinos fell to their rivals, Manas, 19, willed his way to scoring a 10-3 victory over veteran Jayson Shaw of Great Britain in Round of 32, a triumph that set him up against Ruiz, a 10-4 winner over Greek Dimitris Loukatos.
They will be battling for a quarterfinal ticket in the high-level six-day competition that puts $225,000 (more than P13.6 million) prize fund and a grand winner’s purse of $40,000 (around P2.4 million).
Before arranging a duel with Ruiz, Manas took down Austrian Max Lechner, 10-4, in Round of 64 and American Gage Smith,10-0, 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) as well in the first stage.
Not fortunate was Carlo Biado, who was stunned by Indonesian Albert Januarta, 10-8, in Round of 32.
Other Filipinos who took part in the event were Jeffrey De Luna, Roland Garcia, Creigh Dumo, and Roberto Gomez.
