Filipino cue artist Lee Van Corteza hacked out an 8-5 victory over American Rodney Morris in the finals to capture the Predator Sweet 16 title at SM North Edsa in Quezon City Tuesday night. The pride of Davao City, whose stint was supported by Kopico and Energen, came back from a 0-4 deficit by scoring 7 consecutive racks to seize the lead enroute to his victory.
Corteza claimed the first prize of €10,000 for his feat while Morris went home with €6,000
According to Negros Billiards Stable coach Chris Palses, Corteza prayed for an opportunity to return to the table when he was down 0-4. The Pinoy got the chance when Morris committed an error in the 5th rack. The score was already 7-4 in favor of Corteza when Morris ran the 12th rack to cut the lead, 7-5. The Filipino however took the next rack to carve an 8-5 win in the event organized by Dragon Promotions and supported by Predator CEO Karim Belhaj.
Corteza claimed the first prize of €10,000 for his feat while Morris went home with €6,000. Orcollo leads. American Corey Deuel dumped Qatari rival Muhammad Bin Ali, 8-4, to be the first foreign player to make it past the second round. Heavyweights Efren “Bata” Reyes, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Ronnie Alcano, and Alex Pagulayan were still playing their first matches at press time.
Ricky Zerna created a stir in the main tournament after beating his younger and long-time idol and mainstay Marlon Manalo. Zerna played a catch-up game early on before hitting his groove, taking the last five racks to win with plenty to spare. “I took a 4-3 lead and never looked back,” rued Manalo.
Roberto Gomez and Jeff de Luna made it to the second round, beating fellow Filipinos in the process. Gomez topped Edgar Acaba while De Luna nipped Warren Kiamco, 8-7. Gomez, the sharpshooter of the RP pair that placed second in the recent World Cup of Pool, set up a clash with Bustamante.
The currently ranked World’s No. 2 Billiards Player Corteza thanked Jonathan Sy, who has been behind him in local and international tournaments alongside Kopico and Energen.
He desired this, and the Filipino nation is proud of him for proving that Pinoy pool players can still be at par with the world’s best cue artists. He had won numerous local and regional titles but still dreams of winning the World Pool-Billiards Association (WPA) 9-Ball title. He won the tournament held at the iconic billiards hall Star Billiards Center in Grace Village, Quezon City.
Hephanie, who is also in Manila, said the rising Philippine tandem of Dennis Orcollo and Roberto Gomez will be the next big thing in the World of Pool and Party Poker.net World Cup.
HARD TIMES BILLIARDS Billiards in California will host the California Ladies 9-Ball Pro Tour this weekend September 18-19, 2010… Expected to attend are Melissa Herndon, Stacey Novack, Melinda Huang, Rachael Krink, Dara Nakagawa, Mary Anne Starky, Mary Avina, Hiroko Mikayima, Brooks Thomason, Liza Just and.