Gomez to Face Peach for World Billiard Title

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Gomez to Face Peach for World Billiard Title

The final of the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship will be an England v Philippines affair as Daryl Peach of Blackpool takes on Roberto Gomez of Manila in a race-to-17 match at the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City at 15.30 local time on Sunday.
Both players won through their quarter and semi-final games in emphatic style in a day of pool that contained some outstanding play as well as moments of drama and controversy.
Betting firms have installed Gomez as a 1/2 favourite while Peach is the outsider at 6/4. The prize at stake is $100,000 but more importantly the title of World Pool Champion and Gomez will attempt to become the third Filipino player in four years to lift this coveted crown.
Peach becomes the first Englishman ever to reach the final and hopes to emulate the success of Thorsten Hohmann who was the last European to win the event in 2003.
The likeable Englishman put on his career-best performance to oust betting favourite Francisco Bustamante from the competition in the quarter-finals.
The game went all the way to a deciding final rack and there was an incident in the 19th game that set the match alight as Bustamante, leading 10-9, thought that he had won the match following a 3/9 carom shot.
Welsh referee Nigel Rees though, was not so sure that the 9 ball was not contacted first – a foul shot. Rees then took an age to consult slowed down television replays before making his call, which was a foul shot with the 9 ball respotted and ball in hand to Peach.
When play resumed, the Englishman had to refocus as the pandemonium around the table died down. In a great showing, Peach cleared the table and then ran the final rack as the boos rang out.
In less dramatic circumstances, Peach topped Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes in the semi-final by an 11-2 scoreline. Peach was in control from start to finish and looked assured throughout.
Roberto Gomez had earlier beaten the remaining Taiwanese player Kuo Po-cheng in a 11-4 rout on Table 1. Using the soft break in the hot conditions to good effect, Gomez restricted his opponent’s opportunities while potting everything in sight.
His semi-final foe was Karl Boyes (England) who was making his debut in the competition. Boyes, 25, was having a fabulous run in his first ever World Pool Championship, which he only gained entry to by winning a qualifying event in Holland in September.
At 4-0 to the good against Gomez, he was off to a great start but it was not to be as Gomez put on a master class to take 11 consecutive racks.

Quarter Finals
Daryl Peach (ENG) 11 – 10 Francisco Bustamante (PHI)
Vilmos Foldes (HUN) 11 – 7 Mika Immonen (FIN)
Karl Boyes (Eng) 11 – 8 Joven Bustamante (PHI)
Roberto Gomez (PHI) 11 – 4 Kuo Po-cheng (TPE)

Semi Finals
Daryl Peach (ENG) 11 – 2 Vilmos Foldes (HUN)
Roberto Gomez (PHI) 11 – 4 Karl Boyes (Eng)

Gomez Reaches Finals

Posted by admin as Independent Tournaments - World Pool Championship

Gomez Reaches Finals
Filipino billiards player Roberto ‘Superman’ Gomez has won a place in the final of the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship and is favourite to beat England’s Daryl Peach in tomorrow’s showdown.
Gomez, 29, from Zamboanga City, Mindanao but currently residing in Manila, looked the complete player once again as he beat England’s game Karl Boyes 11-4 on Table 2.
I feel happy because almost all the people are from the Philippines, so that’s my crowd, said Gomez.
I was looking for the soft break but I couldn’t make it work. At the start I felt a little bit nervous but I’m very happy now.
Filipino Gomez is another of the seemingly never-ending production line of tough match players from the Philippines who have the break, all the shots and nerves of steel.
He is also the first man from the highly competitive pre-event qualifying school to go all the way to the final.
For Boyes, 25, it was a fabulous run in his first ever World Pool Championship, which he only gained entry to by winning a qualifying event in Holland in September. He has beaten a string of top players and will surely be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
On the harder-breaking Table Two, Gomez deserted the soft break which he had used so effectively on the main table earlier, in favour of controlled power.
Boyes won the lag and looked very comfortable taking the early lead. He continued in the same vein and at 4-0 looked in a good position.
Gomez though got to the table at last in the fifth game and from there on it was strictly one-way traffic.
He always made balls on the break and his shot-making was excellent. Boyes’ few visits were restricted to safeties as Gomez got away from him. A golden break in the 12th rack compounded the Englishman’s misery but in 9 ball there is little you can do from your chair.
Finally, Gomez downed the winning 9 ball to keep Filipino hopes alive of a second consecutive World Pool Championship crown.

Peach Reaches Finals of 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship

Posted by admin as Independent Tournaments - World Pool Championship

Peach Reaches Finals of 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship
English pool player Daryl Peach has dreamed the impossible dream and is through to Sunday afternoon’s race-to-17 final of the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship.
He followed up his epic 11-10 win over Francisco Bustamante in the quarter-finals with a cool, controlled performance to beat Vilmos Foldes of Hungary 11-2 on the main TV table of the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Manila.
Peach looked as comfortable as anyone yet as he controlled the table after a shaky first couple of racks.
He can now look forward to a match up with the Philippines’ Roberto Gomez, who once again looked devastating in dismantling England’s Karl Boyes in the other semi-final.
I just can’t believe it, it only seems like yesterday that I was on the plane coming here, said Peach. This is a dream coming true.
I think I played my best match and I just froze him out. I was expecting a close match but at 2-2 he didn’t see a ball as my safety was good.
I’ve no idea how I kept it together after the match with Francisco. After that match I had been a bag of nerves and my eyes were filling up. But I can play better so let’s just see what happens.
Not knowing the table and using the soft break went against Vilmos 100 per cent. He was not smashing the breaks, but still hitting it with more force than he needed to and the balls are more unpredictable when you’re doing that.
When I saw him doing that I really felt I would get back to the table and that gave me a lot of confidence.
It has been a magnificent week for the Blackpool man who had defeated defending champion Ronnie Alcano (Philippines) and then tournament favourite Bustamante.
Peach has won on the tough Euro Tour and is currently ranked No.2 in Europe but his achievements this week may well be the kick-start he needs to take him to the highest level of the game.
Foldes had moved quietly through the upper bracket of the competition eliminating dangerous players like US Open champion Shane Van Boening and Asian Games winner Antonio Gabica.
As a spectacle, the match was something of an anti-climax due to Peach’s total dominance of proceedings.
Foldes won the lag and looked comfortable as he ran the table in the opener but a terrible lapse in concentration by the Hungarian resulted in an easy 9 ball missed off the spot.
Peach could not believe his good fortune but returned the favour in the next as he worked his way through the table before blowing a chance to go 2-0 by missing the 9 ball.
They shared the next two against the break before Foldes pushed out in the fifth game and Peach put him back in. He played a snooker but Peach jumped out of it and pocketed the 1 ball and from there he cleared the table to regain the lead at 3-2.
Following some safety, Foldes missed a cross-table kick-shot on the 1 ball which left it hanging. The focused Peach took full advantage to increase his lead to 4-2.
Peach ran out of position on the 9 ball in the next but saved the rack with a nerveless cut into a blind pocket and he ran the next to get four racks clear.
When the pot wasn’t available, his safety was always spot on as the Hungarian scratched and, with ball-in-hand, Peach made it 7-2.
Homing in on a World Championship appearance for the first time in his life, Peach was the master of the table as he won a safety battle with Foldes on the blue 2. A 2/8 combo set up the run out to increase his lead to 9-2.
It was more of the same in the next rack as the European No.2 cleared from the rack to reach the hill at 10-2.
Peach made his first mistake of the match as he failed to keep anything between the cue ball and the orange 5. Foldes, though, cold in his chair for so much of the game, missed the pot and from there Peach once again made no mistakes as he booked his spot in Sunday afternoon’s final.

Boyes Beats Bustamante at Philippines World Pool Championship

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Boyes Beats Bustamante at Philippines World Pool Championship
Karl Boyes is the second English player to make it through to the semi-finals of the Philippines World Pool Championship following a hard-fought 11-8 win over local hope Joven Bustamante.
Earlier, Daryl Peach, who also comes from the same English town as Boyes - Blackpool - caused a shocking upset as he eliminated Filipino legend Francisco Bustamante 11-10 in a dramatic finale.
Boyes, playing in the event for the first time, arrived at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City as a complete unknown although his track record on the English 8 ball circuit and some good performances on the short-lived International Pool Tour indicated that he is a cueman to be reckoned with.
He has come through the group stages with two straight wins over former WPC runner-up Chang Pei-wei of Taiwan and Serbian surprise package Goran Mladenovic.
Further wins against Serbian and Korean opposition cemented his reputation but it was his 11-4 win over European No.1 Konstantin Stepanov that made the pool world sit up and take notice.
With a country with so much strength in depth, Joven Bustamante was always likely to be a tough proposition but from 2-2 Boyes was never behind.
At 9-4 the Englishman was in the driving seat but Bustamante came back at him and at 9-8 with break he was favourite for the win. Boyes though got back to the table to secure the rack and take the next for a fantastic victory.

It’s unbelievable, said Boyes. It was a close game, I was 9-4 up but then it was 9-8.
You feel so many emotions - it’s crazy out there. You’re thinking at 9-4 I should then be on the hill and your opponent can’t win but the next minute it’s 9-8 and he’s got four balls to pot.
Against Konstantin on television I won so convincingly and I just wanted to win this match.
Before this tournament it was all about playing certain players for me. If I was up against someone I had played before then I would fancy winning but if I was up against someone I didn’t know then I would be worried.
In the last quarter-final match, Roberto Gomez kept alive the home fans’ hopes of a second succesive Filipino champion.
He defeated Chinese Taipei’s Kuo Po-cheng 11-4 to complete the final four line-up. It means there will be two Englishmen, one Filipino and a Hungarian in the semi-finals.
However, there will be no Chinese Taipei players in the line-up, only the second time in nine years that has happened.
Gomez admitted he was feeling the strain of being the last player from the home country left in.
It’s added pressure for me, said Gomez. I want a Filipino to win this whole tournament but now I’m the only one left so I’m really under pressure.
It’s so amazing to be here in the semi-final and I feel confident I can go all the way.

Billiards Ref Rees Makes Right Call

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Billiards Ref Rees Makes Right Call
Referee Nigel Rees was adamant that his hugely-controversial decision in the Daryl Peach v Francisco Bustamante billiard match was the right one. Bustamante thought he had won the quarter-final when the 9-ball dropped into the pocket with the score at 10-9 in his favor.
But Rees immediately asked for the decision to be reviewed as he thought Bustamante had hit the 9-ball first, instead of the 3-ball he was originally aiming for.
Slow-motion television pictures showed the official was correct and that the cue-ball had brushed the 9-ball before contacting the 3-ball and then sending the 9-ball into the pocket.
However, Bustamante refused to accept the decision and World Pool Association Sports Director Thomas Overbeck was called in to adjudicate.
After another lengthy stoppage a foul shot was called and Peach held his nerve under intense pressure to make it 10-10 before running out the final rack to seal a dramatic 11-10 victory.
Rees said: Bustamante was playing a kick-shot off the rail. It was for the 3-ball and the nine was right next to it so my eyes were on these two balls.
My gut reaction was thinking that it was a foul but we had the benefit of a (television) replay. We went to the replay for quite a while.
I looked at it with the Tournament Director and Head Referee. It was a foul and it just connected with the nine ahead of the three.
It was a tough call to make and the fans were behind Bustamante and he is a great person.
But they are the rules and you have to make the right call. Whoever made that shot, that’s the call I would’ve made.
Thomas Overbeck, the WPA Sports Director, senior rules official at the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship, fully supported the decision taken by Rees.
He took the call and I think he made the correct call. If I would’ve had to make the call I would’ve made the same one. Everything was done correctly to the rules.
The ruling is that the ref must make a decision before the next shot is made. An opponent can always ask for a referee for a reconsideration if it was a foul.
The problem was the 9-ball went in and they thought the match was over. At the time I heard someone say ‘foul’ I don’t know if it was from Nigel, the crowd or the opponent.
Nigel straight away said ‘I have to check it out’ and the correct procedure was followed.
It wasn’t like the game was over for five minutes, he immediately said ‘I have to investigate’.
The rules say a referee of a pool match can make a decision by any means possible. If there is television replays then we can use it.
Nigel told me that his initial feeling was that it was a foul. He is a very respected referee.
Bustamante did not address the situation with me. I think he knows he hit the 9-ball first. He asked me if Nigel reacted accordingly to the rules and I said ‘yes he did’.

Peach Wins in Controversy

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Peach Wins in Controversy
English billiard player Daryl Peach is through to the semi-finals of the 2007 Philippines World Championship following a sensational last eight victory against Filipino legend Francisco Bustamante.
The game went all the way to a deciding final rack and there was plenty of drama and controversy as Bustamante, leading 10-9, thought that he had won the match following a 3/9 carom shot.
Welsh referee Nigel Rees though, was not so sure that the 9 ball was not contacted first - a foul shot. He asked the players to wait as the big Filipino crowd began celebrating what they believed to be a victory.
Rees then took an age to consult slowed down television replays before making his call which was a foul shot with the 9 ball respotted and ball in hand to Peach.
The drama did not end there though as Bustamante struggled to accept the decision and left the arena to seek clarification from WPA Sports Director Thomas Overbeck. The experienced German is the senior rules official at the Championship and he clearly explained the situation.
When play resumed, the Englishman had to refocus as the pandemonium around the table died down but he ran badly out of position. He redeemed himself with a superb cut on the 7 ball under pressure. He then took the 8 and 9 to level the match up at hill-hill.
The crowd were starting to play up as referee Rees tried to control them but Peach delivered a fine break shot under pressure. He ran through the balls but left himself a real tester on the final 9 ball and as he sunk it, the boos rang out.
For Peach, supported by a small but vociferous army of fans, the tears began to flow as the magnitude of his achievement sunk in.
The match had swung distinctly in two directions with Peach cashing in on some Bustamante errors in the early stages to open up a 6-1 lead. The 43-year-old Filipino took two back before allowing Peach another chance.
Blackpool-based potter Peach turned the screws to lead 9-4 but a scratch on the break saw the momentum swing back in Bustamante’s favour. He began to claw back the racks, employing the soft break that he has used on all his visits to the main TV table.
Peach sat rooted to his chair as Bustamante reeled off the racks and it all seemed a lost cause. That was until Bustamante’s fateful foul which Peach, to his full credit, made the very most of.