Saturday, October 20, 2007 The Lion falls in Virginia
ALEX “The Lion” Pagulayan, the 2005 US Open champion, was the first Filipino master to exit the 32nd Annual US Open 9-Ball at the Chesapeake Convention Center in Chesapeake, Virginia.
After he lost to Louis Ulrich in the Winner’s Side, the 2004 WPC 9-ball world champion suffered his second defeat, a 9- to 11-rack beating from the hands of Michael Dechaine to be eliminated completely for the race to win the $50,000 top prize.
While Pagulayan’s loss was stunning news to the billiard community, Ramil Gallego survived from his first round loss to Markus Juva and climbed the ladder from the Loser Side 4, racking five straight wins to stay alive in the contest.
After eliminating Huidje See, Gallego ousted Paddy McLaughlin 11-5, Paul Potier 11-8, Edwin Montal 11-8 and Dave Bollman 11-3 and was playing against Thorsten Hohman as of press time last night.
Match-ups
However, he is on collision course with Francisco “Django” Bustamante, who was relegated to the One Loss Side by Jose “Amang” Parica in their fourth round match-up at the Winner’s Side 3 bracket.
Bustamante played against the winner of the James Roberts vs. Tomoo Takano match and if he will win, he will be playing against the winner in the Gallego-Hohman match.
Joining Bustamante and Gallego in the fragile One Loss bracket were Rodolfo “Boy Samson” Luat, who was also relegated in the loser’s group when he lost to James Walden 10-11. Luat was playing against the winner of the Rafael Martinez vs. Mika Immonen match at the One Loss Side 1.
Another top notch Filipino cue masters at the One Loss Side were Lee Van Corteza and 1994 US Open champion Efren “Bata” Reyes.
Corteza lost to Cebuano Warren Kiamco 11-7 in Round 4 at the Winner’s Side while Reyes was relegated to the One Loss side by 2006 WPC double world champion Ronato “Volcano” Alcano 7-11.
Elimination
Corteza played against the winner of the Lee Chenman vs. Shin Young Park while Reyes against the survivor of the Markus Juva vs. Jeff Abernathy game. If both Filipino will win their respective matches, they however, will be eliminating each other for the right to make it to the Final 8.
Parica was playing against Tyler Edey in Round 5 while Kiamco was playing against Alcano both games at the Winner’s Side 3. The winners of both matches will play each other to determine who will top in their bracket.
Also advancing in Round 5 is Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo. Orcollo defeated Tony Crosby 11-4 in Round 4 and will be playing against James Walden in the next assignment. (RCM)
