Pagulayan rips Valle, pockets P1M top prize

Former World Pool champion Alex Pagulayan lived up to his top billing as he walloped Gandy Valle, 13- 6, Sunday night to rule the BSCP National Pool Championship at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Pagulayan easily disposed of Valle to win P1 million top purse.

"He was just unlucky with his breaks," said Pagulayan of Valle.

Valle, gold medalist in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games and the 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games, pocketed P500,000.

"I didn’t hit the shots I used to hit before the finals," said Valle, who had eight unforced errors and five foul balls.

"My performance was not that bad. I lost to a better player," he added.

Close buddies, Valle actually got a tip from Pagulayan before the semifinals that the soft breaks worked better in the main TV table.

The 29-year-old Valle went on to use soft breaks to make it to the finals against Pagulayan.

"Had I lost the final, I had only myself to blame for my advice to him," said Pagulayan.

Earlier, Jeffrey de Luna capped an impressive performance with an 11-9 win over Ronnie Alcano to clinch third place.

Nicknamed "Batang Kriminal" or young assassin, the 22-year-old De Luna, who lost to Pagulayan, 4-11, in Saturday night’s semis, pocketed P200,000 for his feat that gave him a spot in the World Pool Championship set in the country in November this year.

De Luna’s list of victims included more prominent names in Jose "Amang" Parica, Warren Kiamco, Ramil "Bebeng" Gallego and Antonio "Gaga" Gabica.

"I’m happy with my performance, I hope I’ll play better in the World Pool Championship," said De Luna, who belongs to Perry Mariano’s stable of cue artists. — Joey Villar