Monday, April 02, 2007 Corteza bags RP pool title By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
LEE VAN Corteza of Davao City toppled "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo, 13-11, late Saturday night to rule the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) 2nd National Pool Championship at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Corteza, winner of the All-Japan Open last November, bagged the P500,000 champion's purse for topping the event presented by San Miguel Beer.
The Davao cue master, who hails from Mintal, earlier secured a berth in the 2007 World Pool Championship slated in Manila this November.
From an 11-11 standoff, Corteza pulled ahead after Manalo fouled in the 23rd rack, then finished off his rival with a run-out in the next frame.
Corteza, a gold medallist in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, reached the finals after beating money game king Dennis Orcollo, 11-10, in the semifinals.
Manalo earned the right to play Corteza following his 11-5 thumping of Antonio Lining in the other semis encounter.
Mary Ann Basas, who is also from Davao, lost to fellow national team player Iris Rañola, 7-9, in the finals of the women's play, averting a double kill for Davao in the annual tournament.
Basas had made the finals after ousting Rubilen Amit in the semis, but lost her touch in the most important game. She fell 2-4 early and never recovered.
Basas and Rañola were scheduled to leave Sunday for Taiwan to play in the qualifying for the 2007 Amway Women's World Championships in Taiwan.
