WPA 9-BALL AND WPA 8-BALL CHAMPION Ronato "Volcano" Alcano and Marlon "Marvelous" Manalo cannot forget the "Friday the 13"day as the two Filipino campaigner was booted out in the ongoing 4 th leg of Guinness 9-ball tour being played at the Orchid Country Club in Singapore.
However, countryman 2004 World 9-ball champion Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan and 2007 Battle of Scandinavia 9-ball ruler Roberto "Pinoy Superman" Gomez kept the Philippine flag fighting by topping their respective three-man field preliminaries group brackets.
Aristeo "Putch" Puyat, acknowledge Philippine God Father said yesterday, "Mabigat ang laban pero sana Filipino na ang magkakampeon."
Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) president Ernesto "Ernie" Fajardo who personally fly to Singapore to give moral support for the Filipino pool sharks is hoping that we can win this leg to end our drought in this five-city leg, the only ranking tour in Asia for the World Pool Championships.
The past three legs ( Jakarta , Kaohsiung and Genting Highlands) were dominated by the Taiwanese counterpart, a very shameful for us didn't win any single leg. Last year' bannered by pool maestro Efren "Bata" Reyes (2 leg), Rodolfo Luat (1 leg) and Ramil Galego 1 leg), team Philippines swept the four leg competition.
"Kaya ako pumunta dito (Singapore ) para magbigay ng suporta sa RP cue master natin." said Fajardo in a long distance interview of this writer yesterday.
Fajardo watch the performance of the Pinoy cue master. "Maraming error si Alex (Pagulayan) buti na lamang marami ding error si Chang Jung-lin. Si Roberto (Gomez) malakas ang loob, si Ronnie (Alcano) sa tingin ko ay hindi naman apektado sa kinahaharap niyang kaso (diumano'y child buse sa kanyang anak), talagang maganda lamang ang tinumbok ng Thailander (Nitiwat Kanjanasri) habang inalat lamang si Marlon (Manalo), actually siya pa nga agad ang nakauna laban niya kay Ricky (Yang)."
The 34-years-old Alcano, who is facing child abuse charge before the Quezon City Prosecutors office, beat Eric Tan of Singapore (9-2) but was upset by unheralded Nitiwat Kanjanasri of Thailand (9-5) in the three-man field Group D bracket. Kanjanasri also beat Tan (9-8) to advance in the knock-out stage.
The 30-years-old Manalo, on the other hand was got an ambush by "giant killer" Ricky Yang ng Indonesia (9-5) before crushing Ricky Chew of Singapore (9-3) in their Group F matches. Yang also stuns Chew (9-7) to progress.
Meanwhile, the 29-years-old Pagulayan smashed Muhammad Zulfikri of Indonesia (9-6) and Chang Jung-lin of Chinese-Taipei (9-8) to topped Group A matches. Unfortunately, the draw is not in our side as Pagulayan facing compatriot Gomez late Saturday in their quarter-final clash. The 28-years-old Gomez from Divisoria, Zamboanga City hammered Dharminder Singh Lilly of India (9-7) and Jimmy Jusman of Indonesia (9-3) to dominate Group B matches.
Actually because of the draw of Pagulayan and Gomez, one Filipino is already assured a semi-final seat. The winner of the match between Pagulayan and Gomez will takes on the survivor of Ricky Yang of Indonesia vs Yang Ching-Shun of Chinese-Taipei for the final four.
In other pang quarter-finals matches Saturday, Nitiwat Kanjanasri of Thailand vs Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia, a native of Mindanao and 2005 World 9-bal champion Wu Chia-Ching of Chinese-Taipei battles two-time world 9-ball champion Chao Fong-Pang ngofhinese-Taipei.
After five-city qualifying leg, the top ten finishers of Guinness 9-Ball Tour Order of Merit is automatically advance in the main draw of World Pool Championships aside playing in the Grand Finale on August 31-September 2 in Bali, Indonesia which offers top prize US$36,000. (MARLON BERNARDINO)
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