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Monday, March 07, 2005
RP’s Valle into finals
QUALIFIER Gandy Valle saved the day for the Philippines after booking a seat in the finals in the Singapore leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour last night.
Valle defeated Ching Sung Yang, 11-8, in their semifinal encounter after Antonio Gabica lost to 16-year-old Chinese prodigy Wu Chia Ching, 10-12.
A jittery start by Yang, who defeated Francisco Bustamante, 9-7, in the quarterfinals, allowed Valle to take an early 5-1 lead after the Taiwanese scratched off a jump shot on the one.
Yang couldn’t get a rhythm on his break as he came up dry in his first three tries.
Valle increased his advantage to 6-2 before missing on a jump shot in the ninth rack, putting Yang back on the table to narrow the lead to 8-7 before Valle seized the momentum to make it 10-8.
Yang, the overwhelming favorite to win the match, sank two balls off his break in the next rack but he missed a bank on the two and scratched in the side pocket.
Valle promptly cleared the rack to take his finals seat against Wu, which was still being played late last night. ML
Wu, who had six unforced errors, only had to clean up after several crucial misses by Gabica, who booted out defending champion Efren “Bata” Reyes.
In an uncharacteristic display, Gabica had eight unforced errors to lose his chance of making it an All-Pinoy finals. (ML)
(March 7, 2005 issue)
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