Alex Pagulayan will lead a five-member Philippine team that hopes to secure final slots in the Guinness 9-Ball Tour when the penultimate round of the five-city qualifying tournament takes place in Guangzhou, China from September 19 to 21.
Pagulayan will be joined by world no.1 Dennis Orcollo and world no.6 Joven Bustamante, Jeffrey De Luna and Tour newcomer Elvis Calasang as they try to claim enough points in order to earn spots in the Tour’s grand finale to be held next month in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Pagulayan won the Singapore leg in July beating Orcollo, 11-6, in the finals. His victory marked the first time a Filipino won in the Asian 9-Ball Tour since Efren “Bata" Reyes’ triumph in 2006.
Up for grabs in the Guangzhou leg is a total prize purse of US$50,000 (PhP2.25M) as well as points to qualify for the Jakarta finals, which will feature the Top 10 players in the Order of Merit. The winners of each leg will get to earn US$15,000 (PhP0.67M) while the Grand Final Champion will pocket US$36,000 (PhP1.62M).
Only the Top 10 players after the Guangzhou leg will earn tickets for the Grand Finals.
Currently, Bustamante is the highest ranked Filipino player in the Order of Merit at fourth place while Pagulayan is at sixth after winning in Singapore. Antonio Gabica is at seventh while Orcollo is at 10th spot.
Pagulayan and Orcollo barged into the lower half of the top 10 after a 1-2 finish in Singapore. That victory by a Filipino ended the Philippines' title drought.
Players from Chinese-Taipei are the biggest obstacle for the Filipinos with defending Tour champion Chang Jung Lin, 2005 champion Wu Chia Ching, Yang Ching Shun and Wang Hung Hsiang providing the challenge.
Chang, who bagged the year’s first three legs, is already assured of the number one spot while Yang and Wu are in second and third with Wang at fifth.
The rest of the top ten is composed of Korea’s Ryu Seung Woo and Malaysia's Ibrahim Bin Amir at eighth and ninth respectively.
In addition, the Tour’s Top 10 players will also automatically qualify for pool’s most prestigious event, the 2008 World Pool Championships later this year. The Guinness 9-Ball Tour remains the only ranking tour in Asia for players to qualify for the World Pool Championship.
0 comments:
Post a Comment