RP falls to Taiwanese rivals in Guinness 9-ball semis

MANILA, Philippines - Alex Pagulayan of the Philippines lost 9-6 to Wu Cha-Ching of Chinese-Taipei in a battle of former world champions in the semifinals of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour Sunday in Jakarta, Indonesia. The country's misery didn't end there after reigning world no.1 Dennis Orcollo fell 9-5 to Yang Ching-shun in the other RP-Taiwan semis Yang went on to beat Wu 11-9 to take the title. The twin defeats capped not only a bleak day in Philippine billiards that saw Mika Immonen of Finland beat two Filipinos consecutively to win the US Open Championship Saturday (Eastern Standard time), but also ending a sub-par year that saw heavily favored Filipinos fall short in top-class tournaments worldwide. Behind 4-1, Pagulayan couldn't come any closer than 4-3 the rest of the way after committing one error after another and allowing Wu to build an 8-4 lead. Pagulayan made it 8-6, but his run was cut short in the 15th rack which Wu finished off via run-out. Orcollo's loss was more heartbreaking. He missed a corner-pocket gimme that would've forced a tie in the 12th rack. Then in the 14th, he flubbed an otherwise easy shot at the two-ball to yield the match. Pagulayan and Orcollo each took home $5,400 (P260,000). - GMANews.TV