Filipino reaps the rewards again
Diario Filipino No. 28/Dec 2004
Rocky Lane, who competed at the World Pool Champs in 2004, reported that Filipino Mr. Alex Pagulayan (known as �The Lion�) won the World Pool Champs, with a 17 to 12 win. Alex, born in the Philippines, now a Canadian Citizen, made runner up last year, and vowed to win it this year, a promise duly fulfilled.
Many had their money on Steve Davis and Tony Drago, but both fell out of this world elite tournament very early. �There is no mercy in this place,� says Rocky, himself a national competitor who had to first qualify to get in the Kiwi team with, Jimmy Henry, Mathew McInnes, and Phil Wilkinson all representing New Zealand. �All you have to do is miss one shot, and you simply sit down for the rest of the match and don�t get up again. Even when you�re snookered, you must be able to not only get out of one snooker, but also putt the object ball, from the snookered position, to stay in the match,� says Rocky.
Alex Pagulayan, when sitting down in despair with 11 Vs 6 racks down says, �Oh no, not again, surely it can�t be happening again, not two years in a row�. His competitor, Chang (the one who put Rocky Lane out of the tournament earlier), was 11 racks up on Pagulayan, but as Pagulayan�s wife to be, was pregnant and he also had US$30,000 riding on his ability to win, he had to do something. Chang potted the 8 on the break, and then potted the one. But he jawed the 2 with a slight miss. Pagulayan said �that�s it, now I have to go for it and punish, punish and punish him until the end.� In fact, Chang did not to get to stand up anymore, and became one of the spectators until the match was over. The first prize of US$75,000 made his pregnant wife a very happy lady, to say the least. Congratulations Filipino, you have done it again!