Some might argue that Parica has had an easier climb because of his less intimidating draws, but there was nothing easy about his Saturday afternoon win over Ralf Souquet or his evening match against Rodney Morris. Play progressed quickly, with both players reaching the hill in a little under 90 minutes. It was Parica, though, who took the game after Morris’s final and uneventful break left the masterful Parica an easy run-out.

Among those who have been completely eliminated from the tournament thus far are George “Ginky” San Souci, local heavyweight Frankie Hernandez, Grady “The Professor” Mathews, Canadian shooter Luc Salvas, Max Eberle, Frankie Alvarez, Italy’s Fabio Petroni, and Robb Saez. Certainly o­ne of the more exciting Saturday matches in the o­ne-loss bracket was between Japanese champion Hiroshi Takenaka and Korean national champ Young Hwa Jeong. With a sizeable number of spectators in their respective corners, Takenaka and Jeong kept the match close until the very end, with Takenaka finally eliminating his competitor 11-8.

The remaining players in the losers bracket will play through the night until two semi-finalists meet for a 5 p.m. match o­n Sunday. Charlie Williams, Danny “Kid Delicious” Basavich, Tony Robles, Danny Harriman, Mike Davis, Ralf Souquet, Mika Immonen, Francisco Bustamante, Santos Sambojan—as well as the recently eliminated Rodney Morris and Jeremy Jones—all have a chance to get into the final match.

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