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MANILA,
Dec. 3 (PNA) -– The tandem of former Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes and Lee Van
Corteza rallied from slow start to beat Team World’s pair Rodney Morris
and Thorstan Hohmann, 7-4, on Wednesday in the Q.C. Invasion: Quezon
City-Philippines vs the World Grand VILLARDS Showdown at the Trinoma
Mall in Quezon City.
The
victory stopped the visiting team’s onslaught, reducing the lead to 4-2
still in favor of the Team World which won the first three matches of
the race-to-nine duel encounter presented by Senator Manny Villar’s
Villards: Tulong sa Pagsulong ng Philippine Sports and the Quezon City
government led by Mayor Sonny Belmonte.
Morris
and Hohmann cornered the first two racks but Morris scratched cue ball
in the third rack, allowing the Filipinos to rally and even built a 4-2
margin despite Reyes’ dry break in the sixth rack.
Hohmann
pocketed a two-nine combination to level the match at 4-all but the RP
tandem won the next three racks to win the match to the delight of big
crowd watching the three-day 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 Business Mirror as media partners.
”We have to win more points to avoid being humiliated by the Team World,” Reyes said.
Earlier,
Mika Immonen bounced back from an early two-rack deficit to edge Dennis
Orcollo, 7-6, in the singles’ event to give the Team World a 4-1
advantage.
Only
Alex Pagulayan managed to dodge the international selection’s
juggernaut during Tuesday’s opening day after edging former World Cup
of Pool winner Fu Jianbo, 7-6.
“I
was a bit lucky that I managed to win despite my poor start against the
world no. 1 player,” said Immonen, who won the lag but found himself
trailing by two after the first four racks.
The
first stroke of luck for the 38-year-old former world champion from
Finland came in the fifth rack, when Orcollo succumbed in their battle
of safety shots of the blue-2. Immonen cleaned it up to ignite a 3-0
run that put him in the driver’s seat.
The
two players protected their own breaks, and for winning the lag,
Immonen broke the deciding rack and ran it out for the win that move
Team World another step closer to the $ 40,000 top purse at stake.
Immonen
teamed up with fellow former world titlists Wu Chia-ching and Hohmann
and Morris to beat the quartet of Reyes, Roberto Gomez, Corteza and
Orcollo, 7-4, in the team event Tuesday.
Team
World’s two other victories were courtesy of Yang Ching-shun of
Chinese-Taipei, who blasted Ronnie Alcano, 7-5, in a singles match; and
the pair of American Charlie Williams and Indian Raj Hundal, who
prevailed over the duo of Francisco “Django” Bustamante and Warren
Kiamco.
Two
more matches are still being played as of press time with Gomez and Wu
playing in other single match and the four-man team event with
Pagulayan, Alcano, Bustamante and Kiamco joining forces against Fu, Raj
Hundal, Charlie Williams and Ching Shun Yang in the second team event.
(PNA) |