MANILA, Philippines - Former Asian Games gold medalist Antonio Lining teamed up with fellow veteran internationalist Ramil Gallego as the BMPAP Selection beat the Negros Billiards Stable tandem of Lee Van Corteza and Warren Kiamco, 5-2, at the start of the JBETpoker.net Scotch Doubles All-Star Challenge yesterday at the Skydome of SM North Edsa in QC.
The event served as the undercard of the Villards Challenge of the Legend: The Maestro versus the Volcano, a one-on-one 15-ball rotation match between pool icon Efren “Bata” Reyes and former double world champion Ronnie Alcano.
Lining and Gallego clicked in their first-ever team-up, wresting control early then pouncing on their rivals’ miscues to fashion out the victory.
“We had a good start and took advantage of every opportunity,” said the Japan-based Lining.
The BMPAP duo won the lag and took the opening rack but yielded the next two frames. But Lining and Gallego stole the fourth rack from the Negros tandem to even things up.
While Gallego and Lining sustained their form, Corteza and Kiamco made some errors, including a miss on what seemed to be a relatively easy shot on the black-8 in the fifth frame.
Gallego and Lining then pocketed the next three racks to close out the match in the two-day event presented by Sen. Manny Villar’s Villards: Tulong sa Pagsulong ng Philippine Sports in cooperation with the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines. The event is sponsored by Camella Communities and JBETpoker.net, and supported by ABS-CBN, The Philippine STAR and the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines.
In the second match, former world No.1 Dennis Orcollo and Asian Games gold medalist Gandy Valle of Bugsy Promotions blanked the Puyat Sports tandem of former world champion Alex Pagulayan and Rodolfo Luat, 5-0, to join the BMPAP Selection at the helm.
The four teams play in a single round-robin eliminations with the top two teams advancing to the finals.
Earlier, Sen. Villar made the ceremonial break to usher in the event. He was joined by BMPAP president Vic Rodriguez and BSCP president Arturo “Bong” Ilagan.
Today’s main event will have Reyes and Alcano squaring off in a race-to-9 rotation match, which will be aired live over ABS-CBN’s Studio 23 with real-time streaming in the internet via www.JBET.net.