Pagulayan survives Gomez, 13-11

CEBU CITY, Philippines - Alex Pagulayan won the battle of nerves to beat World Pool Championship runnerup Roberto Gomez, 13-11, in the fist day of the Magnificent 7 9-Ball tournament at the Bravio Sports and Resto Lounge in A.S. Fortuna. Pagulayan, who won the WPC crown in 2005 in Taiwan, earlier held a three-rack lead over Gomez, the previous Magnificent Seven 9-ball Billiard Invitational Tournament first runnerup, before stretching it to 12-7 to move a rack away from taking the match. However, Gomez fought back and stole the next rack after a battle of safeties and strung four straight racks for an 11-12 score. Still, that was the closest Gomez, who lost the WPC title to Darryl Peach last year, could get as Pagulayan took the next rack to win the match. Earlier, Joven Bustamante had a lopsided victory against Marvin Gentapa, who got back with a 13-10 win over Mike Hilton. Bustamante broke out from a tight start to Gentapa, 13-4, for his opening day win. A stalwart of the star-studded Bugsy Promotions, Bustamante endured some anxious moments, having to split the first eight racks with Gentapa before pulling through by outwitting the 18-year-old hometown bet. “It was not an easy win at all as (Gentapa) is really tough that I had to play my best," said the 29-year-old Bustamante. “It’s always nice to win your first game. But this is a long tournament and it will surely gets tougher as we go deep, so I have to keep on improving each game," he added. The tournament follows round robin format with the top two cue artists making the finals on June 7. At stake in this three-day competition is a cool P300,000 and a spot at the main tournament, which will be held in December. - Sun.Star