Corteza, Lining romp to Last Eight

MANILA, Philippines - Lee Van Corteza and Antonio Lining remained hot under the cold playing conditions last night and barged into the quarterfinals of the World 10-Ball Championship at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Corteza needed all the breaks he could get to win a couple of marathon matches. He clipped Taipei’s Chang Yu Lung, 9-8, and Germany’s Thomas Engert, 9-7, to reach the Final 8 of the event which ends today.

Corteza played a total 33 racks in over three hours and the 30-year-old player from Davao, who walks with just a little limp, was starting to show some signs of fatigue against Engert. But he made it just the same.

After his fifth win in as many matches, Corteza, who drew the biggest cheers when he came back from a 6-1 deficit against Chang, stayed on his chair. He had a banana for dinner as he prepared for yet another match.

“Grabe na ang pinag-daanan ko (I’ve been through a lot),” said Corteza inside the venue where the air-conditioning just gets colder every minute some of the players had to cover themselves with jackets when seated.

Corteza was to face Li Hewen of China in the quarterfinals scheduled late last night. The semis. still a race-to-9, and the finals, a race-to-11, will be played today with the champion taking home $60,000.

Lining made it to the Final 8 in a breeze as he faced Jomar de Ocampo, the 22-year-old giant-killer from Pangasinan, and won, 9-2, He earlier defeated Naoyuki Ooi of Japan, 9-7.

Warren Kiamco also caught the bus to the quarterfinals with a 9-7 win over Darryl Peach of Germany on the TV table. It’s just too bad that Kiamco and Lining were to square off in the quarterfinals.

Dennis Orcullo, who called on all the saints to come out of a 6-1 hole and beat Hayato Hijikata, ran out of prayers as he lost to David Alcaiide of Spain, 9-6, in their Final 16 duel.

There are only three of the 19 Filipinos who are in contention, and by the night is over there even lies the possibility of an all-Filipino finals.

Also making it to the quarterfinals was defending champion Darren Appleton who scored a 9-7 win over Marcus Chamat ot Sweden.

Ralf Souquet of Germany was the biggest name to crash out on this lazy Sunday. The tournament’s top seed, the former world 8-ball and 9-ball champion fell to Li Wen of China, 9-6.

“My opponent played very well. And I had two or three mistakes that I wasn’t supposed to make,” said Souquet who stayed behind to catch some of the action following his sudden exit.

Jonni Fulcher, the nuclear physicist from Great Britain, couldn’t find the right formula against Nick Van Den Berg of the Netherlands and took a 9-4 defeat to settle for a $2,500 paycheck.

Notes: The One Side billiards hall in Malate, a favorite hang-out for big-name players looking big money games, including those competing in the World 10-Ball Championship, buzzed with excitement a couple of nights ago when Manny Pacquiao, the newly crowned WBO welterweight champion, dropped by for his favorite pastime. The reigning pound-for-pound champion who recently destroyed Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico came in with his wife Jinkee and some of their close friends. Pacquiao, who could make as much as $20 million for his last fight, took the challenge of an unidentified European. Pacquiao spent a couple of hours on the table and left at around 4 a.m. He had fun losing a few thousands, just a tiny drop in the bucket for one of the world’s richest athletes today... Jomar de Ocampo was a very happy man even if he failed to land into the Top 8. After losing to Antonio Lining he said the $4,000 he won in this tournament would be a big help for his parents who run an eight-table pool parlor in Alaminos, Pangasinan. “Some of my earnings here will go to my parents,” said the 22-year-old who uses a locally-made cue stick worth P10,000. He said he used to carry a Mezz Cue stick worth at least P30,000 but had to sell it when he went through some tough times. “Kung umabot sana ako sa quarterfinals bibili ako ulit. Pero hindi kaya tama na muna itong gamit ko (If I made it to the quarterfinals I would have gotten a new one. But for the meantime I’d settle for this),” he said.