Pinoy cue artists keep lead in 9-ball duel

Chinese Taipei’s Fong Pang Chao reaffirmed his mastery over the Filipinos with a 9-2 victory over Antonio "Nickoy" Lining yesterday in the RP-Taiwan 9-Ball Challenge at the Octagon Hall of the Robinson’s Galleria.

Fong, World Pool champion in 1993 and 2000, simply dominated Lining in a game that took him just a little over an hour to finish to the dissapointment of the local fans who trooped to the venue despite heavy rains that flooded Metro Manila and some parts of Rizal.

It came a day after he dazzled another local bet Marlon Manalo in a 9-7 win that was to be the Taiwanese only victory of the opener when they fell 6-9, no thanks to victories by Lining, Antonio Gabica, Gandy Valle and Dennis Orcullo.

Lining outsteadied two-time Asian Games gold medallist Ching Shun Yang, 9-7; Gabica bashed Po Cheng Kuo, 9-1; Valle blasted Chei Wei Fu, 9-5; and Orcullo clobbered Pei Wei Chang, 9-3.

Fong’s win moved Chinese Taipei closer at 8-10 but Dennis Orcullo quickly negated it by defeating Che Wei Fu, 9-5, to give the hosts a 12-9 lead in the series.

Fong’s win moved Chinese Taipei closer at 8-10 with four more matches pitting Orcullo against Che, Gabica versus Pei, Valle against Po and Manalo versus Ching. Matches were still being played at presstime.

After a hard-earned first day triumph, Fong this time had a surprisingly easy time as he capitalized on his good breaks and precise pocketing, leaving Lining little room to operate.

For a while, Lining appeared in his right element when he took the opening frame only to see Fong rack up four straight frames before the Filipino ended it by seizing the sixth frame to cut his deficit at 2-4.