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MANILA,
Dec. 4 (PNA) – Team Quezon City-Philippines bounced back on Thursday to
win three straight matches and grabbed the lead, 7-6, in its
race-to-nine duel with Team World in the Q.C. Invasion: Quezon
City-Philippines vs the World Grand VILLARDS Showdown at the Trinoma
Mall in Quezon City.
Former
world champions Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante
and 2007 World championship finalist Roberto Gomez defeated their
respective rivals in the singles event of the tournament presented by
Senator Manny Villar’s Villards: Tulong sa Pagsulong ng Philippine
Sports and the Quezon City government.
Reyes
rallied from 1-4 deficit to crush Rodney Morris of the United States,
7-4, to follow up Bustamante’s cliffhanger 7-6 win over Raj Hundal of
India, equaling the billiards showdown to 6-6.
Nicknamed
“The Superman”, Gomez maintained the Filipinos’ winning momentum by
upsetting Ching Shung Yang of Chinese Taipei, 7-4, in the day’s two
remaining singles events.
”I
just showed them why I was called “The Superman,” said Gomez who used a
5-1 start to beat the erratic Yang, whose compatriot Chia Ching Wu
demolished Gomez, 7-1, last Wednesday.
The
final day opened with Team World enjoying a 5-4 advantage, and the
international selection padded their lead to two after Thorsten Hohmann
subdued Warren Kiamco, 7-4, in a singles match.
With
no team able to reach nine victories, the tournament had to go through
extra matches to determine which side will win and take the $ 40,000
top purse at stake in this event organized by the Billiards Managers
and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP) headed by Atty. Vic
Rodriguez and sponsored by Camella Communities with Solar Sports,
RPN-9, the Philippine Star and BusinessMirror as media partners.
Aside
from the Gomez-Yang match, the other singles event is between Dennis
Orcollo and Charlie Williams of United States while Bustamante, Alex
Pagulayan, Orcollo and Gomez battle the quartet of Mika Immonen, Wu
Chia-ching, Yang and Hundal in the first of the three remaining team
events.
If
necessary, another team matches will take place with Reyes, Ronnie
Alcano, Kiamco and Lee Van Corteza for the home team and Morris, Fu
Jianbo, Williams and Hohmann for the visiting squad.
Should
the score become 8-all, a deciding team event will be held with Alcano,
Pagulayan, Gomez and Kiamco bannering Team QC-RP opposite Team World’s
Morris, Wu, Williams and Hundal. (PNA) |