FILIPINO Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo and Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan took different routes at the start of the second leg of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour, yesterday at the G Hotel in Penang, Malaysia.
Orcollo defeated Ricky Yang of Indonesia, 9-7, in Group E and needed to beat former Asian 9-Ball tour over-all champion Yang Ching-shun of Chinese-Taipei to advance in the knock-out stage today.
Pagulayan, the 2004 WPA World 9-Ball Champion, bowed to 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games 9-ball gold medalist Luong Chi-Dong of Vietnam, 7-9, in Group C and pray that he will beat Ryu Seong Woo of Korea to be able to force a two-way tie if Ryu also beat Luong.
Playing as of press time were Antonio "Ga-Ga" Gabica and Joven "The Shark" Bustamante, who is aiming to surpass his runner-up finish in the kick off leg last month in Taipei, Taiwan which was dominated by Taiwanese Chang Jun-ling.
Gabica, whose stint here is supported by the Philippine Billiard Development Foundation (PBDF), takes on Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia and Bernard Tey of Singapore in Group B while Bustamante battles Naoyuki Oi and Sumit Talwar of India in Group H.
A total of 24 Asian superstars are bracketed in Eight groups, sanctioned by the Asian Professional Billards Union (APBU), the event will also have players from Malaysia , Indonesia , Singapore , Vietnam , Korea , Japan , Thailand , India and China.
The Winner of each leg will take home US$ 15,000 while the Grand Finals Champion will walk away with US$ 36,000.
The Guinness 9-Ball Tour is the only ranking tour in Asia for players to qualify for the WPA World Pool Championship and the top 10 finishers in the Tour's Order of Merit will automatically earn a slot for pool's most prestigious event, the 2007 WPA 9Ball Championship scheduled in November.
contributed by MARLON BERNARDINO
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