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September 16, 2007

Antonio “Gaga” Gabica defeated Ronnie Alcano 15-9 and won his 2nd Philippine 9-Ball Open Championship - the first one being in the tournament’s innaguration back in 2004. He brought home Php 500,00; Alcano pocketed Php 250,000. Gabica defeated Efren Reyes in the semis, while Alcano ousted Francisco Bustamante, which led to their pairing in the finals.

Only two players have been crowned Philippine 9-Ball Open champion in it’s 4-year lifespan. Antonio Gabica won in 2004 and 2007, Francisco “Django” Bustamante on the other hand was the back-to-back champion last year.

Ronnie Alcano placed second in the Shanghai leg of the Guiness 9-ball tour. He was defeated by Ching-Shun Yang of Taipei, 12-10; Yang has already won 3 legs this year and will look forward to the tour’s grand final on August 31 to be held in Bali, Indonesia. Only Ronnie Alcano and Lee Van Corteza are eligible to play in Bali. No Filipino won any this year’s stops; last year all legs were won by Filipinos.

The “Big Dome” is this year’s venue for the WPC. The event will be held on November 3-11. No details for ticket prices and seating plan yet.

Some Filipinos in this year’s WPC main draw are 2004 Taiwan WPC champion Alex Pagulayan, 2005 WPC semifinalist Marlon Manalo, Lee Vann Corteza, Dennis Orcollo, Antonio Lining, Jeffrey de Luna, Ramil Gallego and Rodolfo Luat.

Shortly after winning the Hard Times Summer Jamboree 9-ball event, Francisco Bustamante led on to win the One Pocket division defeating Tony Chohan 5-4. The match lasted almost 3 hours; Bustamante earned $3,500 for first place.

Bustamante was undefeated in the whole tournament - 9-ball and One Pocket.

Dennis Orcollo defeated Shin Park 11-6 in the finals to win the Bill Station Memorial, held June 22-24 at Q Masters Billiards in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Orcollo pocketed $ 3,000 and Park $ 2,000. Ocrollo bested a field of 31 players in this tournament.

Francisco Bustamante completed an undefeated run to win the Hard Times Summer Jamboree’s 9-Ball event, held at Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, California. The tournament is from June 19 to June 24; the One Pocket division will proceed after the 9-ball event.

There were 72 players in the 9-ball division; along with Bustamante were Filipinos Marlon Manalo, Jose Parica and Deo Alpajora.

Django faced John Schmidt in the finals with a score of 11-7. Bustamante pocketed a total of $ 3,500 in this tournament. Marlon Manalo took 4th place and Jose Parica, 7th place.

The Lion won the UPA World Summit of Pool held at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 He defeated Shane Van Boening in the finals, 7-5, pocketing $12,000 total prize money. Fellow Filipinos Francisco Bustamante and Warren Kiamco round up the top four in the tournament.

Click here for a complete rack-by-rack commentary on the final match.

Lee Van Corteza was unable to advance to the semi-finals of the Guinness 9-ball tour third leg held in Malaysia. After fellow Filipino Roberto Gomez was eliminated, Lee Van, the Philippines’ last contingent for this tour was defeated by Fong Pang Chao of Chinese Taipei, 9-5.

One of the last two hopes of the Philippines for the third leg of the Guinness 9-ball tour was ousted by Ricky Yang of Indonesia. In a race to 9, Roberto Gomez looked as if he had the match in his hands leading 8-7 and breaking in what would have been the final rack. After the break, Gomez had a clear shot on the 1-ball but the 2-ball was tied and he was forced to play a safety. He was unable to hide the 2-ball, meriting Yang with a runout. In the final rack Yang had the break and cleared the table for a spot in the semi-finals.

The Philippines’ last hope, Lee Van Corteza, is set to play Fong Pang Chao of Chinese Taipei for a slot in the semis.