Wednesday, November 07, 2007 Corteza to face fellow Pinoy By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
TURNING Stone New York champion Lee Vann Corteza will clash with fellow Filipino and newly-crowned 1st Manny Pacquiao International 9-Ball champion Jeffrey de Luna in the knockout round of 64 in the World Pool Championship 2007 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Corteza, who hails from Davao City's Mintal district, barged into the second round after toting a one-loss and two-win record.
He lost at the hands of Serbian Goran Mladenovic, 7-9, but later bounced back by racking up two straight wins against Chang Pei-Wei of Chinese Taipei, 9-4, and Jeremy Jones of the USA, 9-4.
De Luna, on his part, annexed two wins in Group 5. He first disposed of Sandor Tot of Serbia, 9-5, then demolished Fu Che-Wei of Chinese Taipei.
Marlon Manalo arranged a second round showdown with Rodoslaw Babica. Manalo defeated Dejan Dabovic of Serbia, 9-7, then he pulled off another win against Chinese Taipei bet Li He Wen on the same note in Group 14.
General Santos City native Leonardo Andam will face a still undetermined player in the next round. He shocked 2006 WPC runner-up Ralf Souquet, 9-5, and went on to torment Raj Hundal of England in the Group 2 stage.
Defending champion Ronato Alcano collides with the fourth in Group 16 while Francisco "Django" Bustamante takes on David Alcaide.
In other Filipino match-ups, Alex Pagulayan battles Pham Tuan Ngoc while Antonio Gabica is set to test the mettle of the fourth winner in Group 14. Joven Bustamante faces the fourth winner in Group 3, Efren Reyes plays against fourth winner in Group 6, Ramil Gallego meets against fourth in Group 10.
The champion of the world premier billiards spectacle will take home $100,000 while the runner-up will bag $50,000 and the $20,000 will go to the third placer.
Quarter-finalists will pocket $10,000 each while the last 16 will receive $4,500 each and the last 32 will go home with $3,000 apiece. The last 64 will not go home empty-handed with $2,000 each.
