GANDY Valle and Glendford Autor hurdled their respective rivals to finish undefeated in this 20 man-field of the 4th annual San Miguel Beer Philippine 9-ball Open late Sunday at the B3 Bowling Billiards and Bar, NCCC Mall in Davao City. This tournament circuit has just concluded its second leg.
Valle, who teamed up with Romeo "Snooky" Villanueva to bag the gold medal in the 9-ball doubles tournament in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, trounced Danny Otacan (7-6) while Autor surprised Negros Billiard Stable (NBS) bet Jech-Jech Limen (7-6) in the winner's bracket to grab the first two slots in the Grand Finale on September 14 to 16.
Earlier, Valle, a member of the star-studded Bugsy Promotion contingent nipped Reymar Naraiso (7-5), Bernard Pague (7-3) before relegating Otacan in the loser's bracket while Autor blanked Bienvenido Soliman (7-0), Demosthenes Pulpul (7-5) and then edged Limen (7-6).
Otacan and Lemen frustrated their respective opponents to secure the last two remaining slots in the loser's brackets, in this race-to-7, double elimination format. Interestingly, Valle, Autor and Otacan are the pride of host Davao City.
In the first leg, Ricky Zerna, Russian Petiza and Panfilo Damuag of Negros Billiard Stable and 2006 Kuwait 9-ball Open champion Jundel Mazon of Bronco Stable took the allotted four slots held at the Paeng's Skybowl, Robinson's Galleria in Mandaluyong City.
The 2007 SMB Philippine 9-Ball Open is the joint initiative of Puyat Sports and Solar Sports, in close cooperation with Philippine Billiard God Father Aristeo "Putch" Puyat, with the continued patronage of San Miguel Beer which offers a total pot prize Php1.35 million where the champion gets the lion’s share of Php500,000.
Puyat Sports events manager Ish Caparras said that seeded in the main draw were two-time defending champion Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Leonardo "Dodong" Didal, Mike "Choke" Takayama, Carlo "Cool" Biado, Ronato "Volcano" Alcano, Marlon "Marvelous" Manalo, Lee Vann "The Slayer" Corteza, Efren "Bata" Reyes, Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan and Jose "Amang" Parica.
Meanwhile, action resumes this weekend, Aug. 18-19 at the Celebrity Billiards and Bar in Bacolod City, then followed on Aug. 25-26 at the Puyat Sports@Baguio Center Mall (Baguio City) and will end on Sept. 1-2 at the AMF-Puyat Commonwealth Lanes, Ever Gotesco Comonwealth (Q.C).
(Report from MARLON BERNARDINO)
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