Gomez lands in pool final
This guy’s a former news contributor and he’s about to make the big news.
Roberto Gomez bundled out the last of the fearsome Taiwanese then returned to end a young Englishman’s magical ride to make the 2007 World Pool Championship final last night at the Araneta Coliseum.
A former ABS-CBN field reporter in Zamboanga, Gomez, 28, kept his own stirring run as he topped Taiwan’s Kuo Po-cheng, 11-7, in the quarterfinals then blasted England’s Karl Boyes, 11-4, in the semifinals.
A mere group games survivor in his WPC debut last year, Gomez was the last Filipino standing this time as Django Bustamante and Joven Bustamante got booted out in the quarterfinals.
Django lost a controversial match to another Englishman Daryl Peach, 10-11, while Joven bowed to Boyes, 8-11.
Peach, seeded 17th in the $400,000 event, made it all the way to the final by demolishing Hungarian Vilmos Foldes, 11-2, in the Final Four.
Gomez and Peach dispute the crown and the $100,000 prize that goes with it in a race-to-17-rack showdown starting at
The Filipino whipped Dutch Niels Feijen and Indian Dharminder Singh Lilly in the group matches, eliminated another Dutch Alex Lely in the Round of 64, eased out two-time champion Fong Pang-Chao of
“I don’t care about his (Peach’s) game. I will play my own game. I’ll be happy whatever happens in the match,” said Gomez, who barely made the tournament proper by topping a qualifying event.
In a duel between two upcoming stars, Boyes, 25, took the initiative early only to lose his touch curiously after suing for time to relieve himself.
“I had to pee. It’s that bad,” rued Boyes after the match.
Boyes fouled on the blue-2 at the resumption of the match and Gomez made the most out of the situation, charging back from a 0-4 deficit and going on to sweep the next 11 racks to the delight of a cheering hometown crowd.
Closing the match on the 15th rack on a run-out, Gomez and his supporters erupted in a frenzied celebration, waving his cue-stick in the air.
He abandoned his soft break for a harder push when he played on the TV Table 2 for the first time.
“A soft break wouldn’t do on that table, but I’ll do the soft break again on TV Table 1 tomorrow,” said Gomez.
The right adjustment on his break coupled by precise pocketing and some stroke of luck did it for Gomez who highlighted his 11-rack run with a golden break on the 13th then a great bank shot on the 14th making it 9-4.
Boyes was back on the table in the 14th rack but was beaten in an exchange of safety shots.
At 4-6, Boyes had the opportunity to win the 11th rack but scratched while pocketing the blue-2.
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