Qatar’s Bashar Hussain loses to Joshua Filler

Doha, Qatar: Qatari veteran Bashar Hussain started well but still lost to defending champion Joshua Filler of Germany 9-5 in the 2019 World 9-ball Championship in Doha on Saturday.

With 64 matches played on 16 tables at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation in Doha, Day 1 saw 32 players book their spots in the final 64 knockout stage which begins Sunday.  None of the 96 players has yet to see the exits, but there were plenty of upsets, near upsets, and upstarts making their mark on pool’s biggest stage.

The top 32 seeds were given a bye in the first round of their groups, so these players only had to win one match to reach the single-elimination knockout rounds.  

2017 champion and runner up last year Carlo Biado of the Philippines didn’t fare as well as he suffered a shocking 9-3 loss to Chile’s Enrique Rojas. It was Rojas’ second straight victory of the day, the first coming over Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyusef. Rojas now books his well-deserved spot in the Final 64.

The USA’s Shane Van Boening is one of the favourites here this week, but he looked a bit cold early on in his match with young talented Chinese player Xu Xiaocong. Xu is part of a large crop coming from China’s youth movement and he had the American down three-quarters of the way through their match.  But SVB pulled it together at the last minute and squeaked by the Chinese, 9-8. Xu will get one more chance on Sunday.

Fellow American and Mosconi teammate Billy Thorpe also booked his spot in the final 64 with a 9-5 win over Canada’s Stephen Holem.