PAGULAYAN AND BAÑARES BOWED OPENING MATCHES IN GUINNESS 9 BALL TOUR 2008
Date 2008/7/25 20:06:02 | Topic: 2008 GUINESS 9BALL TOUR
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TWO of the five-man Philippine squad was ambush yesterday after former World Pool champion Alex Pagulayan and Philippine Junior Pool champion Jericho Bañares both lost their opening matches in the group stages at Velocity@Novena Square yesterday.
Pagulayan was edged by Nitiwat Kanjanasari of Thailand, 9 – 8, in Group G while Tour newcomer Bañares dropped a 9 – 3 decision to Nguyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam in Group H
Pagulayan led 6 – 4 before yielding three straight racks to his Thai opponent. The Filipino was able to knot the score at 8-all, but Kanjanasari displayed composure as he easily ran out the table in the 17th rack to claim victory in the six-city tour event managed by ESPN STAR Sports
Meanwhile, Bañares felt the rookie jitters as he fell behind early, 6 – 1. The Filipino wunderkind from Antipolo City had a bit of a surge in the 10th and 11th racks, but it was a little too late for him as his Vietnamese counterpart closed out the match in the following rack.
"I was not feeling well," said Banares, who was suffering from stomach pains and anxiety. "I felt that I was not as confident as before. I lacked sleep and as a result, I had many misses and a couple of scratches."
Bañares barely made it to his match on time and was nearly disqualified by the organizers.
Pagulayan and Bañares still have a chance to move on to the quarterfinals, but the two must win over highly fancied opponents in their respective groups later in the day. Pagulayan was set to met Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia while Bañares was scheduled to play Wang Hung Hsiang of Chinese Taipei.
Three other Filipinos – Dennis Orcollo, Antonio Gabica and Joven Bustamante - were still playing as of press time
Up for grabs in the Singapore leg is a total prize purse of US$50,000 as well as points to qualify for the Tour's Grand Final in Jakarta, which will feature the Top Ten players in the overall Order of Merit. The winners of each leg will get to earn US$15,000 while the Grand Final Champion will pocket US$36,000. In addition, the Tour's Top 10 players will also automatically qualify for pool's most prestigious event, the 2008 WPA World Pool Championships later his year. The Guinness 9-Ball Tour remains the only ranking tour in Asia for players to qualify for the WPA World Pool Championship.
Following stops in Chinese-Taipei, Penang, Genting Highlands and Singapore, the six-city Tour will have its penultimate leg in Guangzhou in September before heading to Jakarta for the Grand Finals in October.
by: MARLON BERNARDINO
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