Bangkok--3 Mar--Total Quality PR Chinese Taipei’s quest for a repeat of last season’s sweep seems to be on course as the big three of Yang Ching-Shun, Chang Jung-Lin and Wu Chia-Ching all posted dominant victories over their respective opponents in the Guinness 9-Ball Tour 2008 preliminaries here at the Taipei Gymnasium. Last year’s Grand Final champion Chang began the defense of his crown going up against the Philippines’ Antonio Gabica who was desperate for a victory after a botched 8-9 group stage opener in a tightly contested face-off opposite Budi Sumarno of Indonesia. Showcasing the skills that enabled him to capture the 2007 Tour championship, Chang stumped the Filipino veteran as he asserted his dominance early, climbing up 4-1 in the first few minutes of their Group G matchup. Luckily, Gabica soon found his stroke as the match progressed, allowing him to orchestrate four unanswered racks of his own to get back into contention at four racks to five. However, Chang quickly stepped up the pressure and cleaned up the table but it would seem the wily Filipino was up for the challenge as he returned the favor with a rout of his own to have the score at 5-7, still in the favor of the Chinese-Taipei bet. The Lapu-Lapu city native could not sustain the offensive onslaught though, as Chang delivered some incredible safety shots to frustrate his Filipino rival. With Gabica unable to get back into the proper groove, Chang proceeded to end the match at 9-6. Not surprisingly, two of Chang’s compatriots followed suit with 2005 WPA World Pool Champion Wu and Yang both hurdling their respective assignments in dominant fashion. Wu managed to deflate the challenge of India’s Sumit Talwar, 9-2, while Kaohsiung native Yang, stamped his class all over Siauw Wieto, 9-3. Meanwhile, 2006 DOHA Asian Games Silver Medalist Jeffrey De Luna raised the Philippines flag high as he jump-started his Guinness 9-Ball Tour 2008 campaign on a high note by edging out Vietnam’s Do Hoang Quan with a nail biting 9-8 finish of his group stage opener. Relying on his patented power breaks, the youthful Filipino was able to jump the gun early with a break and run out in the first rack followed by a string of five straight racks from the third frame, garnering an impressive 6-1 advantage against the little known Do. Even with the odds already against him, the feisty Vietnamese refused give way as he pounced on a green six miscue by De Luna in the tenth frame to spark his own four rack run to climb back into contention at 6-7. With the momentum shifting back to his side, the reigning Vietnam 8-Ball and 9-Ball National champion pushed De Luna to the limit at 8-8, with another masterful break and run-out. But once again, De Luna’s powerful break saved the day as he cued up perfectly to send the balls hurtling through to the pockets, creating the perfect table layout for the hard fought 9-8 victory. Another Filipino, Joven Bustamante, added further cause for celebration as he came away with a preliminary round victory, notching the 9-4 win away from Chinese-Taipei bet Chang Pei-Wei who surprisingly, had difficulty in finding his usually consistent rhythm and stroke. In other match-ups, Aaron Koh of Singapore scored a 6-9 victory over Marlon Manalo while Indonesia’s Budi Sumarno and Chang defeated Antonio Gabica 9-8 and 9-6 respectively. The first casualties of Day 1 include India’s Sumit Talwar and Gabica, who is the first Filipino booted out of the $15,000.00 tournament. Exclusive broadcast of Asia's premier pool competition continues LIVE on STAR Sports. Telecast times for Day 2 and Day 3 of the competition are as follows: Sat, 01 March, 2008 from 12.00pm (HKT) Quarterfinals (4 Matches) Sun, 02 March, 2008 from 12.00pm (HKT) Semifinals & Finals (3 Matches) (TV Schedules subject to change without prior notice) The Guinness 9Ball Tour is sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) and organized by ESPN STAR Sports' Event Management Group (EMG). Taipei City Government is the co-organiser for the Chinese Taipei leg while Guinness is the title sponsor for the Tour. The local sanctioning body is the Chinese Taipei Billiards Association and Iwan Simonis and Aramith supply the official tablecloth and official balls respectively. Brunswick provides the official pool table while Predator is the official cue. The Official Hotel is the Sherwood Hotel while STAR Sports is the official broadcaster.Further information can be obtained at www.g9bt.com About ESPN STAR Sports ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world’s leading cable and satellite broadcasters. As Asia's definitive and complete sports broadcaster and content provider, ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies — Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) — to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay and free-to-air services. ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe 24 hours a day to a cumulative reach of more than 310 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 17 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN Asia, ESPN China, ESPN Hong Kong, ESPN India, ESPN Malaysia, ESPN Philippines, ESPN Singapore, ESPN Taiwan, MBC-ESPN (Korea), STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Malaysia, STAR Sports Singapore, STAR Sports Southeast Asia, STAR Sports Taiwan, and STAR Cricket. On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. ESPN STAR Sports aims to reach consumers at any time, any place and through all new media platforms, both internet and mobile. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw and footballcrazy.tv interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. Developed for the sports fan that is constantly on the move, mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile delivers differentiated mobile content targeted at its various audiences. mobileESPN enables the serious sports fan to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever before with a combination of specially produced video news clips, in-depth news coverage and analysis. STAR Sports Mobile aims to provide interactive and entertaining opportunities to engage with sports, delivering exclusive video excerpts from leading football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool as well as highlights from STAR Sports original programmes covering opinions, instructional tips and the latest online game reviews. About Guinness Guinness the Number One premium stout was born in 1759. Since then, this premium stout brewer has brought the Guinness experience to 51 countries in which it is brewed, and 150 countries in which it is sold. 10 million glasses of Guinness are enjoyed every single day around the world. Taking the Guinness? journey, one will find that one good pint leads to another. About Guinness 9-Ball Tour The Guinness 9-Ball Tour is Asia’s premier pool competition which carries the name of its sponsor Guinness and boasts a total prize money of US$320,000. Organised by Asia’s Number One Sports Broadcaster, ESPN STAR Sports, and sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU), the Tour has featured some of the world’s best pool players and is the only ranking tournament that offers automatic qualification to the WPA World Pool Championship for its Top Ten finishers. Beginning life in 2003 as the Asian 9-Ball Tour, the Tour featured 22 events so far and visited numerous cities in Asia. Up till end 2007, Filipino cue masters dominated the roll of honour with 12 wins and ‘The Magician’ Efren Reyes is the biggest winner with 7 titles, followed by Yang Ching-shun of Chinese Taipei who pocketed 6 crowns. The Guinness 9-Ball Tour 2008 will have five legs and a Grand Final in Jakarta. Each leg will feature 24 players with the overall top ten players making the Grand Final. At stake each leg is US$50,000 and Word Pool Championship ranking points. Winners for each leg walk away with US$15,000 prize money. The Grand Final will boast a US$70,000 purse with the Champion pocketing US$36,000. For more information, please contact: Tom Van Blarcom / Ruthaiwan Tanwongwan Total Quality PR (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Tel: +66 (0) 2260 5820 Email: [email protected]