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CORTEZA, ORCOLLO ON TRACK IN JAKARTA;
DE LUNA FALTERS

April 20, 2007, Jakarta – The Philippine campaign for the inaugural Guinness 9ball Tour started out with mixed results here at the lush Golden Ballroom of the Sultan Hotel in Jakarta. Although recently crowned Philippine National Champion Lee Van Corteza and Dennis Orcollo opened up their group stage match ups with victories at the annual nation hopping event, their compatriot Jeffrey De Luna succumbed to a more experienced opponent in the form of 2005 World Pool Champion Wu Chia-Ching.

Lee Van Corteza, the lanky cue master hailing from the Negros billiards stable of Jonathan Sy, reigned supreme over Indonesian bet Muhammad Zulfikri, 9-5. Corteza was in superb form as he raced to a three rack run off the get-go via a rack run at the beginning of the contest and then matching it with two consecutive clean ups to have the early advantage against Zulfikri, 3-0.

Zulfikri then managed to produce a table run of his own in the fourth rack to join the scoring board and halt the onslaught of the Filipino. This gave the homecrowd something to cheer about because the predominately pro-Indonesian crowd was expecting Zulfikiri, a rising superstar in the country, to perform marvellously in the tournament.

However, Corteza had other plans in mind. Riding on his recent Philippine National Open victory, Corteza capitalized on every opportunity to further increase his lead. Another run at the fifth rack and a brilliant two-nine combo from a dry break by the Indonesian saw him back on track to running away with the contest with the score at five racks to one.

Still, Zulfikri's unrelenting fighting spirit urged him to carry on. Visibly inspired by performing in front of his countrymen, the Indonesian bet rallied back to take the succeeding four racks to level the contest at five racks all.

But Corteza was able to disregard the mounting pressure and continued take his time and methodically pick his shots. A self confessed analytical player, "Van Van" knew what he had to do to take the match. Since he already knew the pace and limitations of the tournament table conditions, every stroke from his cue stick was calculated which resulted in a controlled precise manipulations of the multi-colored balls. Corteza never looked back as he inevitably emerged on top, 9-5.

Meanwhile, another Filipino enjoyed the cushion of putting away his first group stage assignment. 2006 World Pool League champion Dennis Orcollo showcased his famed pocketing finesse to claim victory against another Indon Siaw Wieto, 9-4.

However, both wins did nothing to uplift the mood of compatriot Jeffrey De Luna who suffered a demoralizing defeat by Wu Chia-Ching in the opener of the group stage, 4-9.

Despite the one sided final score, the match actually was close in the opening stages. De Luna even looked relaxed and confident as he stole the very first rack after Wu muffed a seemingly simple one ball pocket resulting in an easy clean up job for the Filipino. However, the former champion that he is, Wu knew that it was not a good idea to toy around with the task at hand especially facing a Filipino known for accurate power-breaking and clinical shot making -- And it really did not help De Luna's cause when he missed the nine ball corner pocket attempt in the very next rack.

That initial miscue from the Filipino was the only boost Wu needed to recover from his first rack blunder. Heating up as the match moved along, the Taiwanese billiard sensation was then able string a couple of impressive clean ups as he wowed the crowd with his remarkable pocketing skills.

De Luna could only watch in disbelief as Wu perfectly executed a spectacular jump shot over the orange five to sink the three ball in the fourth rack followed up by an ultra thin slice on the two ball to guide it to the corner pocket in the fifth rack, topped off with a surreal two rail two ball shot at the very next rack to post an early advantage over De Luna, 4-2.

The 2006 Asian games silver medallist, De Luna, was only able to finally stop the bleeding when he sank a seven-nine combo in the seventh rack. And refusing to give up, De Luna then took the ninth rack after Wu uncharacteristically miscued again on the one ball for a safety attempt to level the score at four racks a-piece.

However, despite De Luna showing a lot of heart and courage, his lack of inexperience on the international stage took its toll. Compared to Wu who displayed a lot of maturity and consistency in his shot selection, the young Filipino gambled on a lot of his shots even though he was still unsure of the speed of the table – a luxury you cannot afford when going against one of the best players of the game today. This resulted in a lot of errors and miscues which ultimately sealed the Filipino's fate.

From the seventh rack all the way to the decider it was an all-Wu show as the Taiwanese orchestrated a five rack streak to take the opening group stage match, 9-4.

Even though De Luna managed to score an emphatic win against his next opponent, India's Dharminder Singh Lilly, his chances to move on to the quarterfinals are very slim because it will be highly unlikely that Wu will lose to Singh.

Meanwhile, the three other Filipinos are waiting to complete their group stage match ups as of press time. Dennis Orcollo is up against China man Liu Hai Tao at 4pm while Lee Van Corteza is going to challenge another Chinese Li He-Wen at 7pm.

The lone Filipino yet to see action is Ronato Alcano who is still waiting to start his first match which will take place at 4pm. The reigning double world pool champion is set to test the mettle of Malaysian bet Patrick Ooi. Afterwards, Alcano will battle Taiwan's Yang Ching-Shun at 7pm (Jakarta Time) at the TV table on STAR Sports.

Formerly the Asian 9-Ball Tour, the Guinness 9-Ball Tour has been made bigger and better for players and fans alike with the new partnership between ESPN STAR Sports and Guinness. Total prize money has doubled to US$320,000 (from US$160,000 from last year's tour) and the Tour will feature a grand final in Bali for the Top 10 players. Winners of each leg will win US$15,000 while the Grand Final Champion will walk away with US$36,000.

The Guinness 9-Ball Tour remains the only ranking tour in Asia for players to qualify for the WPA World Pool Championship. The top ten finishers in the Guinness 9-Ball Tour Order of Merit will automatically qualify for pool's most prestigious event, this year's edition slated for a second straight staging for Manila in November.

Viewers in Asia can look forward to 15 hours of LIVE and exclusive telecast of the tournament on STAR Sports. Broadcast times are as follows:

• Fri Apr 20 17:00 - 21:30 (HKT) Preliminaries (3 matches)
• Sat Apr 21 13:00 - 19:00 (HKT) Quarterfinals (4 matches
• Sun Apr 22 12:00 - 16:30 (HKT) Semis & Final (3 matches)

Further information can be obtained at www.guinness9balltour.com

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