Thursday, August 30, 2007 Corteza seeks another crown By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
THE young Filipino cue master who barely made it to the grand finals has one final shot at the 2007 Guinness 9-Ball Tour crown.
And Lee Vann Corteza is definitely ready for war when the Grand Final blasts off Friday in Bali, Indonesia featuring the Tour's top 10 players after five legs, including Yang Ching-Chun and Chao Fong-Pang of Taipei.
Corteza, who hails from Mintal, Davao City, and his wife Gelia planed in to Bali, Indonesia Wednesday night for the three-day championship which ends Sunday.
The couple left Manila at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and had a stopover in Hong Kong before proceeding to Indonesia.
Corteza, in a text message before his departure, said he will know of their brackets once he arrives at the playing venue which is the Grand Hyatt Bali.
The 28-year-old Corteza, the reigning national champion and All-Japan Open winner, arrived in the country last week after winning the Turning Stone Classic in New York City where he bagged the $8,000 top purse.
"I hope I get to win again in Bali. I'm praying for good breaks," Corteza told Sun.Star Davao in the vernacular.
The Davao pool master has yet to win a leg in the Guinness Tour.
Corteza the other top nine players, who qualified after earning the most number of points in the past five legs held in Jakarta, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Singapore and Shanghai, China, will be divided into two groups of five.
Another Filipino player--Ronato Alcano--is also entered in the tournament.
In fact, it was Alcano who was responsible for Corteza's trip to the Grand Final when the reigning World Pool champion booted out his semifinal opponent in the fifth leg just a couple of weeks ago.
Yang, Chang Jung-Lin, Chao and former World Pool champion Wu-Chia Ching, Indonesia's Ricky Yang, Malaysia's Ibrahim Amir, India's Dharminder Singh Lilly and Singapore's Bernard Tey complete the cast of the Guinness finalists.
They will play a single round robin for the race-to-nine alternate-break group stage where the top two players in each group will advance to the race-to-11 knockout semi-finals. The semis winners will play in the title and the $36,000 championship prize.
A player must win by two racks up to a maximum of race to 13 in the semis and finals matches of the three-day $70,000 Grand Final.
The Guinness Top 10 also qualified to the 2007 WPA World 9-Ball Championship in Manila on November 3 to 11.
ESPN Star Sports will air live telecast of the tournament starting 5:00 p.m. Friday, Hong Kong time.
The Guinness 9Ball Tour is sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (Apbu) and organized by ESPN Star Sports' Event Management Group (EMG).
The local sanctioning body is Persatuan Olahraga Billiar Seluruh Indonesia (POBSI).
