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Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Corteza eyes Asian Games
By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
MANILA -- After the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Lee Vann Corteza is setting his sights on the Asian Games next year in Doha, Qatar where he hopes to give the Philippines additional glory at the pool table.
"The Asian Games will be next," Corteza told a handful of sports journalists after losing to Alex Pagulayan in the finals of the 8-ball singles of the Games Friday night at the air-conditioned Makati Coliseum.
The defeat denied Corteza, who hails from Mintal, Davao City his second gold in the biennial meet after bagging the 8-ball doubles gold earlier in tandem with Antonio Gabica of Cebu.
Corteza was hurt by a series of dry breaks in his match with Pagulayan but still managed to give his rival a tough time in the early going before a crowd that included First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.
Despite the defeat, Corteza said, he was happy the gold went to a Filipino.
But the 25-year-old cue master from the City of Durian said he hopes to play again for Team Philippines in future international competitions, specially the Asian Games, which is just around the corner.
Filipino coach Ramon Ancaja said they would be preparing for the Asian Games this early, pointing to Chinese-Taipei as the country's toughest rivals in the quadrennial meet.
After the SEA Games, Corteza would spend time with his family during the yuletide season before embarking on another campaign in Japan in January and trying to hone his game through more international exposure.
(December 6, 2005 issue)
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