Singapore leg winner and former World Pool champion Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan and reigning world number one Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo are set to lead a five-man Filipino contingent at the penultimate of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour in Guangzhou, China.
A report on BilliardPhilippines.com said that aside from Pagulayan and Orcollo, other Filipino cue masters joining the tournament are Joven Bustamante, Jeffrey de Luna and newcomer Elvis Calasang.
The tour’s second to the last tournament will take place at Guangzhou’s Garden Hotel from September 19 to 21.
The top 10 players in the overall Order of Merit following the Guangzhou leg will earn a trip to Jakarta, Indonesia where the tournament grand finals is slated to take place.
Bustamante is currently ranked fourth while Pagulayan leaped to sixth place following his win in Singapore. Antonio Gabica is ranked seventh, while Orcollo is hanging on to the 10th spot in the Tour's Order of Merit.
Pagulayan earlier emerged victorious in Singapore after beating compatriot Orcollo, 11-6, in the finals of the six-city event. His win in the Lion City marked the first time a Filipino won in the Asian 9-Ball circuit since Efren "Bata" Reyes triumphed in 2006.
The Filipino cue masters are expected to meet tough challenges in China as Chinese Taipei will parade defending Tour champion Chang Jung Lin, 2005 WPA champion Wu Chia Ching, Yang Ching Shun, and Wang Hung Hsiang.
Chang, who topped the year's first three legs, is already assured of the number one spot while Yang and Wu are currently in second and third, respectively. Wang presently ranks fifth.
The rest of the top ten is composed of Korea's Ryu Seung Woo and Malaysia's Ibrahim Bin Amir, who are ranked eighth and ninth, respectively.
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