Monday, July 30, 2007 Davao's Corteza reaches semis in Superbalita 9-ball By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
LEE Vann Corteza of Davao City dismantled Reynaldo Campaña Saturday night, 10-5, to reach the semifinals of the 2007 Sun.Star Superbalita 9-Ball Challenge at the SM City Cebu Trade Hall.
The 28-year-old Corteza, the reigning national open champion, first eliminated Romeo Silvano in the Round of 16 and was to play Asian Games veteran Antonio Gabica in the semifinals Sunday afternoon.
Gabica reached the semis after ousting Johan Chua in the quarterfinals also Saturday.
The winner of the Corteza-Gabica match will face former world champion Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan in the finals. Pagulayan earned the first finals slot after beating Mike Takayama.
Another Davao bet, Gandy Valle, lost to Bebien Jabien of Cebu, 8-9, in a pulsating match in the Round of 16 to bow out of contention.
Valle, an Asian Games gold medallist, raced to a 7-4 advantage and was well on his way to another easy win until Jabien got a new lease on life.
Jabien, back-to-back Sun.Star Superbalita Class B champion in 2004 and 2005, bounced back to take four of the next five racks and tie the count at 8-8.
Valle, however, had a chance to pull through after a battle of safeties in the 17th rack, but he played a poor safety on the No. 7 ball.
That allowed Jabien to grab the opportunity and he sank the object ball in the lower right pocket off a difficult shot paving the way for a cleanup.
The champion's purse in the Open division of the Superbalita Challenge, the biggest billiards event in the south, is P160,000.
The second placer will get P80,000 while the third and fourth finishers are assured P40,000 and P30,000, respectively.
