Craig Osborne is the last British player still in the 2010 WPA World 9-Ball Championships in Qatar. The Ipswich based potter has so far put on a tremendous performance to reach the Last 16 stage, (As this is article was written sadly he lost 11-9 to Oliver Mendenilla of the Philippines.)

Earlier in the day he defeated Tony Drago 11-8 to set up the tie. Scott Higgins was also into the Last 32 which is a fantastic performance for his first major International outing. Higgins got beaten by another Filipino in a very tight match 11-10, he will draw great confidence from the run he has had in Qatar with the Austrian Eurotour event next week.

Former World Champion, Johnny Archer, is slowly going about his business and has also reached the Last 16 after wins over Efren Reyes, yesterday, and Bruno Muratore earlier today.

The American is currently at 6-6 with Jason Klatt of Canada, one of the surprise packages of the tournament.

One of the most interesting facets of this tournament so far, at least for a European, is the strength in depth of the players coming from the Philippines, a number were pre-qualified for the event and many more have come through the qualification tournaments. So far through to the quarter-finals are three Filipino players, Francisco Bustamante beat compatriat Marlon Manalo and was joined by Ronnie Alcano. Both of these names are well known in the world of pool, however, the third man through is Felicilda, a relative unknown.

Other players still in the tournament include, Yang Ching Shun, Sandor Tot and Dimitro Jungo.

The 2010 World 9-ball Championships has almost been the graveyard of champions with many of the worlds former champions and pre-tournament favourites being eliminated in the early rounds. We hope to bring you an interview with one of these players (Darren Appleton) next week.

The quarter-finals will take place later on at 7:00pm Qatar time. The finals are due to be held tomorrow.

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