DEMOSTHENES Pulpul put up a valiant stand but succumbed to pressure in the end to lose to Wu Chia Ching of Chinese Taipei, 11-8, in the semifinal round of the World 10-Ball Championships at the Philippine International Convention Center early last night.
Pulpul was the last Pinoy standing in the event and his loss meant that for the first time in three years, no Filipino made it to the final of a major World Pool Association organized meet.
Ronnie Alcano won the inaugural WPA event hosted by the Philippines, the World 9-Ball Championships in 2006, while Roberto Gomez made it to the finals a year later.
On the other hand, Wu, who was 16 when he his first WPA 9-Ball crown, now has a chance to make pool history when he fights for the title against the winner of the Neils Feijen, who ousted Marlon Manalo in the round-of-16, and Darren Appleton semifinal which was being played at press time last night.
“We will just see tomorrow (today) but I will try to do my best,” said Wu, who is also a former World 8-ball champion and can become the first triple champion today.
Wu started hot in the semifinal yesterday, racing to a 5-0 lead before Pulpul won the next seven racks to take the lead.
However, Wu won three of the next four racks for a 10-8 lead before the pivotal 19th rack.
A drybreak by Wu put Pulpul on the table, but he missed his first shot on the three. Wu dropped the three but missed his bank on the four, the first of four erratic attempts on the four by both players.
Pulpul finally dropped the four but bungled his attempt for five-seven combination, giving the table back to Wu.
Despite the loss, the World 10-Ball championships was a break out event for Pulpul after he defeated noted players Yang Ching Sun in the round-of-16, 9-8, and former world champion Thorsten Hohmann in the group stages.
Aside from Manalo, Jericho Bañares, the third Pinoy who made it to the round-of-16, lost to Nick Van den Berg.
Manalo and Antonio Gabica were the only big names in Philippine pool who joined the event as the rest—Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Alex Pagulayan, Ronato Alcano and Dennis Orcullo—opted to boycott the event due to differences between two groups in billiards. (ML)
