Valle stays unbeaten; Pagulayan saves win

Gandy Valle reasserted his mastery over pool legend Jose "Amang" Parica as he came through with a 9-5 victory yesterday to remain unscathed in the BSCP National Pool Championship at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Top seed and former World Pool champion Alex Pagulayan struggled for the second straight game but pulled off a 9-6 victory just the same after rallying from a 4-6 deficit to defeat Leonardo Didal, 9-6.

"Hirap na hirap manalo," said Pagulayan, who will battle Antonio Gabica, who downed Rolando Garcia, 9-3, in the next round.

The 29-year-old Valle, who defeated the 60-year-old Parica in the Reno Open two months ago, set up an interesting duel with Rodolfo Luat, who recently topped the third leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-ball event in Kaohsung, Chinese Taipei.

"So far so good," said Valle, a 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist who teamed up with Snooky Villanueva in winning the country’s lone gold in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

Luat had an easier time as he blanked Leonardo "Dodong" Andam’s conqueror Napoleon Labrador, 9-0.

Equally impressive was second seed Dennis Orcollo, who made short work of Jharome Peña, 9-2, to arrange a showdown with Mario Tolentino, a 9-7 winner over Jundel Mazon.

Meanwhile, Mike Takayama split his matches, losing to Ronnie Alcano, 5-9, but bouncing back with a 9-8 win over Johann Choa. — Joey Villar