Monday, June 23, 2008 Valle faces Orcullo for Class A crown By Edri K. Aznar Sun.Star Staff Reporter
IN A game of wits and creative shots, former Asian Games gold medalist Gandy Valle came up with the better arsenal to beat former world champion Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan in yesterday’s semifinal match of the 1st Senate President Manny Villar Cup–Sun.Star Superbalita 9-Ball Challenge at the Trade Hall of SM City Cebu.
Between the two world-class cue masters, Valle was in control of the game as he had the better shot opportunities and came out triumphant, 9-4.
Valle, a Southeast Asian Games medalist was to take on 2003 and 2006 champion Dennis Orcullo in the finals later yesterday.
Valle was at the top of his game as he started out with a 4-1 lead against the zany Pagulayan, who won the World Pool Championship title in 2004.
Pagulayan then retaliated and cleverly hid the cue ball behind the eight, forcing Valle to dig in his bag of tricks for an intricate shot.
Valle went to the bottom rail but he failed to hit the two, giving Pagulayan ball in hand and an easy run out to reduce the gap to 4-2.
Victories
Pagulayan later had a string of victories and found himself tied with Valle.
With the game tied at 4 apiece, Pagulayan had the chance to take over the lead but was unlucky and failed to drop a single ball with his break. With that, Valle capitalized and finished the whole rack to take the 5-4 advantage before running out the next two racks for a 7-4 score.
In rack 13, Pagulayan got a chance to return to the table but it proved to be the last shot the 2007 Superbalita 9-Ball challenge champion took as he scratched on a bank shot.
With the foul, Valle cleaned up the rack for the 8-4 lead and was on his way to running the final rack but before Valle could shoot the last two balls to advance to the finals, Pagulayan conceded and gave Valle the 9-4 victory.
In the other semifinal match, Orcullo proved why he is a two-time champion as he scored a a lopsided 9-2 victory over Roberto “Superman” Gomez.
Earlier in the quarterfinals, Orcullo defeated Lee Van Corteza, Gomez routed Michael Feliciano. Valle won against Carlo Biado, while Pagulayan prevailed against Joven Bustamante. (EKA)
