Anthony Cortes Raga (born November 14, 1997) is a Filipino professional pool player from Cebu, Philippines, nicknamed "The Dragon". Raga reached the final of the 2023 European Open Pool Championship, however, would lose on hill-hill 13–12 to David Alcaide of Spain.[1]

Raga was also a two time runner-up at China 9-Ball Open losing to Wu Jia-qing of China, 12–11, in 2019.[2] and Joshua Filler of Germany, 11–5, in 2023.[3]

Career

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Raga competed at the 2nd edition of the European Open Pool Championship in 2023, held at Hotel Esparando in Fulda, Germany. He climbed back from the losers' bracket and gained a berth in the knockout rounds by beating Mateusz Śniegocki of Poland in the round of 64, 10–8, and Ko Pin-yi of Chinese Taipei with a score of 10–0 in the Round of 32.

Raga went on to defeat John Morra of Canada, 10–4, in the round-of-16, Polish player Wojciech Szewczyk, 10–7, in the quarterfinals, and German Joshua Filler, 11–9, in the semifinals to set up a race-to-13 finale with Alcaide where he lost 13–12.

Raga was four balls from taking the title when he hit the green-coloured six on the side pocket when he was trying to carom it off the seven ball. This mistake by Raga was capitalized on by Alcaide to claim the top purse of $30,000 for the champion. Raga took home $15,000 for his runner-up finish.[4]

Titles and achievements

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References

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  1. ^ "Anton Raga loses to David Alcaide in dramatic European Open final". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  2. ^ "Couple Interesting stories from 2019 China Open 9-Ball - FargoRate Blog". www.fargorate.com. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  3. ^ Villar, Joey. "Raga continues rise with runner-up finish in China 9-Ball Championships". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  4. ^ "David Alcaide is 2023 European Open Championship Winner - News - AZBILLIARDS.COM". AzBilliards. 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  5. ^ "Sharks – The Mecca of pool". Retrieved 2024-02-04.
  6. ^ "1st QC 10-Ball Open championship ALCANO–RAGA MATIRA, MATIBAY". SAKSI NGAYON. 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  7. ^ Sunnexdesk (2020-01-17). "Raga miabante sa Jancor Sinulog 10-Ball finals". SunStar Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  8. ^ "Sargo sa Cebu City 10-Ball Open Tournament". CueScore. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  9. ^ "Sen. Manny Pacquiao 10-Ball Open Tournament - Doubles". CueScore. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  10. ^ Yocogan-Diano, Vernie (2015-11-06). "Rising Cebuano cue artist Anton Raga joins cash-rich 48th All-Japan Championship". SunStar Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  11. ^ Yocogan-Diano, Vernie (2015-04-27). "Raga tops Summer 10-Ball for 2nd crown in two weeks". SunStar Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  12. ^ Yocogan-Diano, Vernie (2015-04-27). "Raga tops Summer 10-Ball for 2nd crown in two weeks". SunStar Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2024-02-03.