IT’S the end of the line for World Pool Association double world champion Ronato “The Volcano” Alcano as he bowed to Chao Fong-Pang of Taiwan, 6-11, in the semifinals of the second leg of the 2007 Guinness 9-Ball Tour at the Kaohsiung Business Exhibition Center in Chinese-Taipei yesterday.
There was no more end-game breaks for Alcano this time as Chao displayed a flawless game the Filipino cue master failed to break down in the final racks.
“It’s okay. Chao really was the better man today. His break was going for him all through out the match. Plus he ate up the difficult positional plays I gave him. Even after using my soft-break, I knew it was going to be very hard to come away with the win so I guess it’s alright. I’m still proud of myself. I wish him the best of luck,” said Alcano, the World 8-ball and 9-ball champion.
The lanky Calamba City-native Alcano jumped to a 3-1 lead as he showed impressive cue ball control.
However, Chao came back rousing behind the support of vocal fans. Chao turned the tide over after stringing up sixth straight racks, while Alcano suffered mental lapses in the 6th and 8th racks, to lead 7-3.
Sensing danger, Alcano shifted to his trademark soft-break in his desperate move to catch up with the former World Champion.
His change in strategy paid dividends for awhile as Alcano closed the gap after taking two straight racks for a 5-7 deficit.
Confident
However, his surge didn’t last long as Alcano succumbed to pressure and took only one more rack, while a confident Chao cleaned up three for a 10-6 lead.
Alcano could have made his last stand in the 17th rack but an unlikely miss on a three-nine combination at the bottom corner sealed Chao’s win and the predominantly Taiwanese crowd cheered as their hometown bet slowly cleaned up the rack to advance to the final round against his student, Yang Ching-Shun.
Shun defeated three-time junior world pool champion Wun Yun Lun, 11-8, in the other semifinal. (RCM With PR)
