Pinoy pool bet Gomez falls short in Beijing 9-Ball Open tilt

Roberto Gomez will always be remembered as one of the few Filipino players who came close to winning a world championship. On late Sunday evening, Gomez has found himself again knocking on the door of winning a major pool event — and fell short anew. Gomez lost a hill-hill encounter to Chang Jung Lin of Chinese Taipei, 10-11, in the Finals of the WPA-Beijing Open 9-Ball Championship. The bitter memory of the 2007 World 9-Ball Championship against Daryl Peach of Great Britain still haunting him after he missed the last ball, Gomez lost another heart-breaking match, this time against the former Guinness 9-Ball champion Chang.

“Umiiyak nga sa telepono nu’ng tumawag sa akin," said Bugsy’s Promotions’ Perry Mariano, manager of Gomez. “Sayang, hindi pa panahon siguro." Gomez were coming off tough matches in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. In the quarterfinals, he repulsed Wu Jiaqing of China, 11-9, then outlasted Fu Che Wei of Chinese Taipei in the semis. Chang also had to survive a crack opponent in Nick van den Berg of the Netherlands, 11-9, before making it to the championship round. Yu Ram Cha of South Korea spoiled an all-Taiwanese show as she defeated Chou Chie Yu of Chinese Taipei, 9-6, in the women’s Finals. Gomez and the rest of the Filipinos who competed in this tournament will be returning home right away to prepare for two other major events of the World Pool-Billiard Association — the Gap 10-Ball tournament and the World Ten Ball Championship. The Gap tournament is an event put up by the WPA where a total of $10,000 prize fund is at stake. Only the players who participated in the Beijing Open and will compete in the World Ten Ball Championship are qualified to join in the Gap 10-Ball event, according to WPA president Ian Anderson. The Gap 10-Ball event will be held from May 4-6 at the Star Billiards Center simultaneously being held with the qualifying stage matches of the World Ten Ball Championship. - Rey Joble, GMA News