Monday, November 12, 2007 Peach beats 'Superman' Gomez in final, 17-15
MANILA—Daryl Peach of England showed better control of his nerves in the crucial moments as he carved a thrilling 17-15 win over Roberto Gomez yesterday to capture the 2007 World Pool Championship at the Araneta Coliseum.
Gomez, better known as “Superman” in the world of billiards, cried after the highly tense and emotional finale because of his failed bid to become the fourth Filipino to win the WPC.
“I’m almost there but I’m sorry I wasted several chances. But I have no excuses. He is good. This is just my first time, so I really lost my focus,” said Gomez.
The 35-year-old Peach, the newest sensation in the world of billiards, displayed strong determination and well-calculated strokes throughout the four hour and 55-minute match that made the finals more on determination and strong heart rather than skills and talents.
“This is the highest that I ever achieved in my career. But maybe because of the pressure of winning for the country and the crowd itself, I really felt nervous, which I wasn’t able to overcome,” said Gomez.
The 28-year-old Gomez had the game in the bag, when he led 15-12, but bungled several easy opportunities allowing his Briton opponent to escape with the cherished silver trophy, won by Efren “Bata” Reyes in 1999 in Cardiff, Wales, Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan in 2004 in Taipei, Taiwan and Ronato Alcano in 2006 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
“It was a great game and I’m glad I ended up a victor. It’s hard to describe my victory today,” said Peach.
Peach likewise brought home the $100,000 top purse, while Gomez received the $40,000 runnerup prize.
“After taking a 15-12 lead, the pressure was very great already but I was still hoping I can with the lead but I committed a mistake on nine,” Gomez said.
Both Gomez and Peach, who were on their first finals appearance, obviously felt the intense pressure, forcing them to commit more blunders and miscalculations in their cue ball control and approach.
The Zamboanga City-born Gomez opened the finals with a miscue on the brown seven ball, which Peach easily did to take an early 1-0 upperhand. The 35-year-old Peach felt more comfortable since then, stretching his lead to 2-0 before a miscalculation on the four allowed Gomez to take the third rack, 1-2.
After the third deadlock at 3-3, Peach, whose other victims were Ronato Alcano, 10-6 in the round-of-64 and Francisco “Django” Bustamante in the quarterfinals, took the next five racks to establish his biggest lead, 8-3.
But he scratched off a hard break in the 12th rack and Gomez found his rhythm and took the next five racks for an 8-8 tie. (FCC)
