JAKARTA, Indonesia - The Philippines’ Alex Pagulayan and Dennis Orcollo booked semifinal seats after finishing as the top two Group A players in the preliminary round of the Guinness 9 Ball Tour 2008 Grand Final on Saturday at the Mal Taman Anggrek.
The two wound up with identical 3–1 win-loss records, but Pagulayan, the 2004 World 9-Ball champion, earned the top spot since he lost fewer racks.
Pagulayan, who won the Singapore leg, will face Wu Chia-ching of Chinese Taipei in the first sem-final match today at 12 noon (Manila time) while Orcollo, who topped the Guangzhou leg, will tangle with longtime rival Yang Ching-shun of Chinese Taipei in the other encounter at 1:30 p.m.
The semifinal winners will meet in the finals later Sunday.
Antonio Gabica also had a chance to join compatriots Pagulayan and Orcollo in the Final Four but ran out of steam and lost his last two matches in Group B.
The former Asian Games gold medalist started strong as he won his first three assignments, beating fellow Filipino Joven Bustamante, 9–5, Malaysia’s Ibrahim Bin Amir, 9–5, and Wu, 9-7.
But the player known as “Gaga” faltered down the stretch, losing to hometown bet Ricky Yang, 8–9, and Yang, 6–9.
Gabica, who played four straight matches in nearly seven hours Saturday, ended up tied in second place with Wu, but got the boot in the tiebreak.
Bustamante was also eliminated after coming up with only two victories in five matches over in Group B.
Pagulayan actually dropped his opening match to Orcollo, 7-9, but bounced back to win his next three assignments. He beat last year’s Grand Final winner Chang Jung Lin of Chinese Taipei, 9–5, late Friday evening then downed Chinese Taipei’s Wang Hung Hsiang, 9–8, and routed Korea’s Ryu Seung Woo, 9–2, on Saturday.
Orcollo, who is the current WPA world No. 1, swept all three of his assignments on Friday. He started his campaign with the victory over Pagulayan then followed it up with triumphs over Wang, 9–8, and Ryu, 9–5.
The player known as “Robocop” dropped a no-bearing match to Chang, 7–9, on Saturday.
Chang, who won the Grand Final in Bali last year, was eliminated after winning only two matches and suffering two defeats in Group A.
The champion will earn the top prize of $36,000.
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