Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Davao's Corteza, Valle gain in Qatar 9-Ball
By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
DAVAO City pool sharks Gandy Valle and Lee Vann Corteza survived their second round matches late Monday to remain unbeaten in the 2008 Qatar International Open 9-Ball Championship at Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation, Al Muntazah Road in Doha, Qatar.
Valle, who owns a house at the Skyline Subdivision, defeated Daryl Peach of Great Britain, 9-5, in Group 5 while Corteza, who hails from Mintal, also won on the same note, 9-5, against Indonesian Ricky Yang in Group 7.
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Fresh from winning the Manny Villar-Superbalita 9-Ball title in Cebu City, the Bangkok Asian Games gold medalist Valle walloped Indonesian Widi Harsoyo, 9-0, while consistent Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist and New York champion Corteza drew a bye in the first round.
Filipinos Dennis Orcollo, Antonio Gabica, Ramil Gallego, Marlon Manalo, Jeffrey de Luna, Ronato Alcano, Alex Pagulayan, Efren REyes, Roberto Gomez, Warren Kiamco and Francisco Bustamante also stayed alive in the double elimination cuefest.
Orcollo crushed Bahrain's Subah Habib, 9-1, in Group 1 while Gabica sent Russian Konstantian Stepanov to the loser's bracket after racking up a 9-0 win in Group 6.
Gallego downed compatriot Joven Bustamante, 9-5, in their Group 2 clash while Manalo stopped Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Yousof Al Wadi, 9-1, in Group 6 and de Luna edged Taipei's Wang Hung Hsiung, 9-7, in Group 7.
Two-time world champion Alcano hanged by the thread with a 9-8 win against Rodoslaw Babica in Group 1 even as Pagulayan bested American Johnny Archer, 9-2, in Group 2.
Reyes, meanwhile, overwhelmed Qatar's Abdulatef Alfawal, 9 0, in Group 3 while Gomez whipped Farshad Shahverdi, 9-3, in Group 4 and Kiamco beat Indian Dharminder Lilly, 9-7, in Group 5.
In another Group 2 encounter, Django Bustamante disposed of Qatar's Ali Al Obaidaly, 9-2, in teh $150,000 event that offers $40,000 to the champion. Losers' bracket matches were still going on as of this writing Tuesday.
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 2, 2008 issue)
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