|
RENO, NEVADA: The Philippine representatives in the World Junior
Pool Championship made the Billiards Congress of America (BCA)
smile when they arrived.
On Monday, one of them made the host country’s
billiard governing body cry.
Jonas Magpantay, the least heralded Filipino in
the field, scored a stunning 9-8 victory over Austin Murphy, the
junior champion from the United States, in the opening round of the
under-19 event at the Sands Regency Hotel here.
The BCA, also the organizing group of the
tournament, was glad the Filipinos joined the competition. “The
Filipinos make the field deeper,” said one of the BCA officials.
Magpantay proved it.
“Suwerte lang po dahil kinalaban siya [Murphy]
ng bola sa last rack,” said Magpantay, referring to the critical
preparation miscue of the American with three balls left in the
hill-hill affair.
The untested but supremely confident boy from
Bansud, Oriental Mindoro, was the first to reach the hill despite
trailing for the majority of the match. But an empty break on the
16th let Murphy back on the table and in the contest.
Murphy appeared to be on his way to victory
after pocketing a tough shot on the green six. But the cue ball
didn’t cooperate, hiding behind the black eight and leaving Murphy
no choice but to play a risky cushion shot.
He fouled up and Magpantay gamely cleaned up the
mess.
The 14-year-old Magpantay would next meet Chieh
An-ching of Chinese Taipei, a 9-6 winner over Greg Quinn.
Reigning national junior champion Jerico Bañares,
on the other hand, created his own luck against stubborn Russian
Roman Pruchai.
With no clear pocket waiting the brown seven on
the 16th, Bañares wisely played it safe. The ploy paid off as
Pruchai’s counter-safety proved anything but safe.
“Alam ko na pressured na ‘yung kalaban ko
dahil puro na ako kaya mas pinil ko mag-placing na lang kaysa
i-doblete ‘yung siyete,” explained Bañares. “Kapag nagmintis
kasi ako t’yak na bi-benta sa kalaban.”
Bañares actually jumped the gun on his
unsuspecting foe, racing to a 5-2 lead and breaking.
But Pruchai slowly but surely inched closer and
eventually grabbed the lead on the 13th rack, 7-6.
“Solid ang pocketing ng nakalaban ko tapos
minalas pa ako sa break,” said Bañares.
Fortunately for him, his break on the 14th
netted him two balls and his run out knotted the count at 7-all.
Bañares would next face Nick Pera of New
Zealand, a 9-6 winner over Alyysius Yapp of Singapore.
Zemonette Oryan made it a perfect start for the
Philippines by beating Michelle Yap of Singapore, 7-3. Oryan would
next take on Sabrina Naverschnig of Austria, a 7-4 winner over
Konischi Samia of Japan.
The campaign of the Filipino junior players is
supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Billiards and
Snooker Congress of the Philippines.
The other winners in the opening round of the
double-elimination tournament were defending champion Ko Pin-yi of
Chinese Taipei, Nick Tafoya, Billy Thorpe and Joshua Newman of the
United States, Norio Ogawa and Hirotaka Kihara of Japan, Stefan
Nolle, Nico Wehner and Manuel Ederer of Germany and Aslam Sayed
Sharik of Singapore.
-- Noli Cruz
|
