Reyes limited visits were marred by some poor misses and as Manalo began to run away with the game a feeling came over the arena that the Magician was o­n his way out of the competition.

Facing a 7 – 2 deficit, Reyes played a poor push out, pocketing the 7 ball but allowing Manalo the chance to hook him behind the red 3. Efren could not play a good enough escape and Manalo cleared the table to go 8 – 2 ahead.

Manalo threw Reyes a lifeline in the 11th rack as he scratched o­n the break in the corner pocket and Reyes cleared to get to 10 – 3. He ran out the next to go 10 – 4 but scratched himself to give Manalo the golden opportunity to close out the match. With ball in hand he calmly executed the run out for another magnificent victory.

Despite his superb string of results, Manalo was clearly not happy about beating a national hero. “It was a bitter sweet win because Efren has been my role model. I had to win because he would have beaten me but I really wanted Efren to play well, he said.

Manalo who won all his group matches in Cardiff last year before going out in the last 32, is mainly a snooker player and operates a 12 table pool club in his home town.

“I’ve been practising seriously for about three months, maybe two to three hours a day but in 9-ball, it’s anybody’s game.

“Playing o­n the TV table has helped me concentrate but I just took each rack at a time. I’m looking forward to playing Chamat, I tried to play him for money in Manila but he didn’t want to.”