Malta's Tony Drago was eliminated from the tournament in Manila yesterday after he lost narrowly to Jeremy Jones of the United States 8-7 – a second consecutive defeat – in what has been described as one of the most exciting matches of the tournament so far.

Later in the evening, Liu Cheng-chuan of Taipei joined Jones in the next round after he beat Ceri Worts of New Zealand 8-5.

These results mean that with just today’s Group matches to be played, Jones and Cheng-chuan are through while Drago and Worts are eliminated.

Only the first two in each group go through to the Last 64 stage which starts tomorrow.