Cue artists steal gold from Thais

The Philippine snooker team, flashing some resiliency and flexibility, nipped Thailand in its favorite game, 3-2, to snatch the gold medal in 23rd Southeast Asian Games yesterday.

The squad of Joven Alba, Alex Pagulayan, Leonardo Andam and Felipe Tauro Jr., actually went hot and cold unitl Alba dished out a near-flawless game in the last singles to fashion out the big win over Phainthoon Phonbun, Supoj Saenla, Kobkit Palajin and Nitiwar Kanjanasri at the Makati Coliseum.

"We’re not really expecting to win because it (snooker) is their (Thais) favorite game back home," said Andam. "But we saw some weakness in their game and it gave us some confidence to beat them in the end."

No less than organizing chairman and international technical delegate to the Games Prof. W. Y. Chin took notice of the Filipinos’ superb game.

"The Philippines should now develop snooker with this victory. It (the Philippines) has the talent," said Chin.

For his part, BSCP president Ernesto Fajardo said he could not seem to get a measure of the Filipino cue artists, saying they had only two and half days to practice as a team.

"We hardly played as a team. I think it’s only their sheer grit and talent that made the difference," said Fajardo.  

On their way to the finals, the Filipinos defeated Myanmar, 3-1, in the first round the other day, then beat Singapore later in the day. The Thais trounced Indonesia, 3-2, to arrange a clash with the Filipinos.

Pagulayan took the opening game against Saenla in the singles, but Alba bowed to Thailand’s top snooker player Phonbun to even up things. Pagulayan and Andam then edged Phaithoon Phonbun and Kobkit Palajin for a 2-1 lead.

Phonbun brought down Pagulayan in the next singles, as Thailand drew level again at 2-2. The Thais actually appeared headed for the win when Saenla gained the upperhand in his singles match with Alba. The Thai, however, failed in the last three balls, enabling Alba steal the win and the RP team the gold medal. — Arman Carandang