Thursday, October 23, 2008 Gallego downs former US Open champ By Henry C. Villalva
COVERING Manila-based sports writers described it a dogfight, and the winner of that was Negrense Ramil "Bebeng" Gallego of Bacolod City, who claimed his second straight win in the ongoing 33rd US Open 9-Ball Championship at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Virginia at the expense of former champion Gabe Owen, 11-9, to lead the Filipino contingent's charge.
"I hope this is a sign of things to come in this tournament," said Gallego, a standout of the vastly improving Negros Billiards Stable of businessman Jonathan Sy.
Other RP entries who are on the winning run are Ronnie Alcano, who is anchoring the Filipinos' quest for the top prize of $40,000, along with former world number 1 Django Bustamante who quickly got into his rhythm and disposed of Mike Chatterbuck, 11-4, after struggling in his opening match with Mike Brown before settling down en route to his 11-7 win.
Also posting wins were the in-form Rodolfo Luat who followed up his opening round 11-5 thrashing of Louis Ulrich with an 11-2 rout of Don Polo; US-based veteran Jose "Amang" Parica who had a tough match before prevailing over Aki Heiskanen, 11-9; and the youthful Lee Van Corteza who had no trouble beating Abdullah al Yousef, 11-5, after drawing a bye in the opening round.
The only RP entry to lose so far was Leonardo "Dodong" Andam, who went down to Finland's Markus Juva, 11-8.
Alcano, the former World 9-Ball and 8-Ball champion, is seeking to avenge his US Open loss to reigning titlist shane Van Boening during last year's staging of the event.
Alcano and Bustamante, together with Filipino pool icon and Hall of Famer Efren "Bata" Reyes and Alex Pagulayan, are among the big names expected to compete in the fifth leg of the 1st Senate President Manny Villar Cup slated here in Bacolod City sometime next month.
