Pinoys reach finals of World Team pool meet
02/07/2010 | 07:24 PM
The Philippines proved its status among the top pool nations in the world as it reached the finals of the first World Team Championship Saturday in Hannover, Germany (Sunday in Manila).
The Filipinos outgunned Russia, 4-1, to advance into the championship round against Great Britain, which nosed out Greece in the other semis matchup, 4-2.
The Russians actually drew first blood against the RP cuemasters as juniors world champion Ruslan Chinakov and Roman Pruchai defeated former double world champion Ronnie Alcano and Dennis Orcullo in the 8-ball doubles, 6-3.
But the Filipinos immediately fought back and leveled the count, 1-1, on Marlon Manalo and Warren Kiamco’s 6-4 triumph over Konstantin Stepanov and Egor Plishkin in the second 8-ball doubles.
It was an all-Filipino show from there as Lee Van Corteza and Antonio Lining hacked out identical 8-4 wins in the 9-ball singles matches over Roman Pruchai and Plishkin, respectively, and Alcano sealed the win with a 7-1 rout of Chinakov in the 10-ball.
Following RP to the finals was the crew of world champions Daryl Peach and Darren Appleton of Britain.
The British and the surprisingly tough Greeks battled to a 1-1 standoff after the two 8-ball doubles but victories by Mark Gray (8-4 over Alexandros Kazaqui) and Imran Majid (8-6 over Nik Ekomonopoulos) in the 9-ball matches shifted the momentum to the British’s side.
However, Peach failed to wrap up match point for Britain, yielding a 4-7 setback to Aristides Damoylakis in the first 10-ball play. To their rescue was Appleton, who drubbed Evangelos Vettas, 7-4, in the next 10-ball match to send Team Britain into the finale against the Pinoys.
On their way to their semis win and championship stint, the Filipinos edged Norway in the Last 16, 4-2, and Poland in the quarterfinals, 4-2. The British, for their part, shut out the Ralf Souquet-led Germany in the Last 16, 4-0, and edged China in the Last 8, 4-3.
The RP-Britain finale is set on Sunday (Monday in Manila). - GMANews.TV
Alcano
The Russians actually drew first blood against the RP cuemasters as juniors world champion Ruslan Chinakov and Roman Pruchai defeated former double world champion Ronnie Alcano and Dennis Orcullo in the 8-ball doubles, 6-3.
But the Filipinos immediately fought back and leveled the count, 1-1, on Marlon Manalo and Warren Kiamco’s 6-4 triumph over Konstantin Stepanov and Egor Plishkin in the second 8-ball doubles.
It was an all-Filipino show from there as Lee Van Corteza and Antonio Lining hacked out identical 8-4 wins in the 9-ball singles matches over Roman Pruchai and Plishkin, respectively, and Alcano sealed the win with a 7-1 rout of Chinakov in the 10-ball.
Following RP to the finals was the crew of world champions Daryl Peach and Darren Appleton of Britain.
However, Peach failed to wrap up match point for Britain, yielding a 4-7 setback to Aristides Damoylakis in the first 10-ball play. To their rescue was Appleton, who drubbed Evangelos Vettas, 7-4, in the next 10-ball match to send Team Britain into the finale against the Pinoys.
On their way to their semis win and championship stint, the Filipinos edged Norway in the Last 16, 4-2, and Poland in the quarterfinals, 4-2. The British, for their part, shut out the Ralf Souquet-led Germany in the Last 16, 4-0, and edged China in the Last 8, 4-3.
The RP-Britain finale is set on Sunday (Monday in Manila). - GMANews.TV
