Clash of the Asia Titans

Hall of Champions where the Final will be played

The two pool powerhouse in Asia clashes in the Semi Finals as Chinese Taipei and Philippines goes against each other tomorrow at the 4th Golden Break 9 Ball Asia Invitational Championship 2012.

In one half, Philippine's Carlo Biado will play 2 times runner up of the event "The Ace Killer" Ko Ping Chung from Chinese Taipei at 12pm. On the other half, Roberto "Superman" Gomez will go against the Prince of Pool from Chinese Taipei, Ko Pin Yi, which will be played at 3pm. The winners will then meet in the Final which will be played at 7pm, in the Hall of Champions.

Apart from the main event, there is also a Lucky Draw where 10 winners will be able to win merchandises from the sponsors. For more information, please visit Team Sports Marketing Facebook page by clicking here.

Ko Ping Chung's comeback

Ko Ping Chung use the rest to play a jump shot

Ko Ping Chung is most probably the player labelled by everyone as the Comeback King of this Championship. After surviving a hill-hill lost with Singapore's Toh Lian Han, whose cue ball went in off after making the 9 ball on the final rack, Ping Chung survived yet another similiar fate in his Last 16 match.

Playing against Alan Tan, he was looking at a 3-8 score, trailing 5 racks behind with 2 more racks for Alan to win the match. He slowly took rack by rack and with Lady Luck on his side, he won the remaining 7 racks required and beat Alan Tan 10-8.

Playing against former world number one Philippines Dennis Orcullo, again he had Lady Luck very close to him and after leading 8-1, Dennis shook Ping Chung's hand to concede the match.

Ko Ping Chung plays Philippines Carlo Biado tomorrow in the Semi Finals match, whom beaten the defending champion Lee Vann Corteza in his Quarter Final match.2

Topsy turvy day for Last 32

Ko Pin Yi chalks up a victory against Sharik

It was yet another day where not all the top seeds got their way at the Last 32 round of 4th Golden Break 9 Ball Asia Invitational Championship 2012.

Current Asia No 1 Chang Jung Lin from Chinese Taipei fell to Roberto "Superman" Gomez and Efren "The Magician" Reyes lost to our very own Alan Tan.

Hot favourites for the Championship still in contention includes the defending champion Lee Vann Corteza, 2 times world champion Ronnie Alcano and former world no 1 Dennis Orcullo, whom all hails from Philippines. Meanwhile the Ko brothers are also still in the running for the top prize of USD8,000 as Ping Chung and Pin Yi beat Toh Lian Han and Sharik Aslam Sayed, both from Singapore, respectively.

Last 16 will be played tomorrow in 2 sessions, 2pm and 4pm, followed by the Quarter Finals at 8pm. Live scoring for tomorrow's matches will be available on this site.

For the complete results, please visit the events page by clicking the event banner on the left.

To view photos of the event, please click here.

Alan conquers the Magician

Alan Tan in action against Efren Reyes

Today's victory will most probably be one of Alan Tan's highlights in his playing career, as he beats pool legend Efren "The Magician" Reyes to advance to the Last 16 stage of the 4th Golden Break 9 Ball Asia Invitational Championship 2012.

Alan Tan came into the match as the underdog in comparison to the legend and was trailing 4-9 at one point of time. But he worked his game steadily, rack by rack and forced the match to a hill-hill situation.

Efren had the first chance after the break but missed on the first ball to give the chance back to Alan. Alan went on to clear ball by ball and finally showed Efren the exit.

Alan Tan will play 2 times runner up of the event, Ko Ping Chung from Chinese Taipei in his tomorrow's Last 16 match at 2pm.

Top seeds through to Last 32

Asia No 1 Chang Jung Lin among the favourites to lift the trophy

Defending champion Philippine's Lee Vann Corteza and current Asia No 1 Chang Jung Lin from Chinese Taipei both had little trouble as they literally flew past to qualify for the Last 32 round of the 4th Golden Break 9 Ball Asia Invitational Championship 2012.

Corteza's fellow countrymen Dennis Orcullo also did not face much obstacle to go through. 2 times runner up of the event, Ko Ping Chung from Chinese Taipei, however had to struggle in order to advance to the Last 32 stage. After a hill-hill defeat to Singapore's Sharik Aslam Asyed in the final match of the Winner's Pool, like his brother, he too had to play a few more matches before finally beating Jason Ng to go through.

Last 32 rounds will start from 2pm onwards, followed by 4pm, 6pm and 8pm, total 4 sessions. Below are the list of today's final 4 groups advancing into the Last 32 round:-

Group A - Lee Vann Corteza (PHI) & Kok Jken Yung (MAS)
Group B - Sharik Aslam Asyed (SIN) & Ko Ping Chung (TPE)
Group C - Chang Jung Lin (TPE) & Kovic Chong (MAS)
Group D - Dennis Orcullo (PHI) & Yannick Beaufils (FRA)

To view the Last 32 Draw, please click here or visit the event's page.

Efren scraped through on Day Two

Efren Reyes 

Efren Reyes merely scraped through to advance to the Last 32 round after suffering a first match defeat at the 4th Golden Break 9 Ball Asia Invitational Championship 2012.

After losing his first match against the young Aloysius Yapp from Singapore, he had to struggle through the Loser Pool before finally qualifying by beating Malaysia's Lee Hee Sin.

His fellow countrymen former world champion Ronnie Alcano, Roberto "Superman" Gomez and Carlo Biado too qualified, increasing the total number of Philippines player going through to a total of 8 players.

12 groups have now completed their matches with another 4 more left to play tomorrow. Below are the list of qualifiers for Day Two:-

12pm session

Group F - Ronnie Alcano (PHI) & Ricky Chew (SIN)

Group H - Jimmy Jusman (INA) & Roberto Gomez (PHI)

Group J - Muhd Bewi (INA) & Naoyuki Oi (JPN)

6pm session

Group G - Nien Rong Chih (TPE) & Antonio Lining (PHI)

Group I - Carlo Biado (PHI) & Johann Chua (PHI)

Group K - Aloysius Yapp (SIN) & Efren Reyes (PHI)

The Draw for the Last 32 Round will be at Golden Break Kuchai Lama after the last match completes for Day 3, which is estimated to be around 8pm.

Big names falls on Day One

A very much despaired Francisco Bustamante

Crowd favourite Francisco Bustamante tumbled on his first hurdle as he fails to qualify to the Last 32 on Day One of the 4th Golden Break 9 Ball Asia Invitational Championship 2012.

Going out with him is also his fellow countrymen Jundel Mazon, winner of the Guinness World Series of Pool 2010, whom wasn't playing to his best form. Amongst the strong Philippines contingent, only Jeff De Luna and Raymond Faraon qualified to Last 32 stage.

Another pool powerhouse Chinese Taipei had their sole representative on Day One, as Ko Pin Yi took to the table. However, Ko wasn't playing his best too and nearly fell in the Loser Pool. He eventually beat Philippine's Arnel Bautista, whom he lost in the first match, to qualify to Last 32.

Below are the qualifiers from Day One through to Last 32:-

12pm session
Group E - Alan Tan (MAS) & Ko Pin YI (TPE)
Group M - Raymond Faraon (PHI) & Chan Keng Kwang (SIN)
Group P - Jeffrey De Luna (PHI) & Ahmad Taufiq (BRU)

6pm session
Group L - Toh Lian Han (SIN) & Stuart Pettman (GBR)
Group N - Nittiwat Kanjanasri (THA) & Kevin Uzzell (GBR)
Group O - Takano Tomoo (JPN) & Ibrahim Amir (MAS)

Last 2 qualifiers through

(l-r) Tony Chong, Golden Break representative SS Chua and Ben Zhang

Last day of the Stage 1 Open Qualifiers was a slightly slower affair, as most of the players were exhausted from the non stop pool playing all day long. At the end, it was Sabahan Tony Chong and Singapore's Ben Zhang whom went through to Stage 2, winning at the Winners and Losers Pool respectively.

That rounds up the 8 players through 4 days of qualifiers with another top 8 ranked players going through based on the accumulated ranking points earned. The top 8 players are as follows:-

1. Hairulhisham (SIN) - 22 points
2. Rudi Girsang (INA) - 21 points
3. David Lee (SIN) - 19 points
4. Bala Subramaniam (SIN) - 18 points
5. Leonard Wan (SIN) - 14 points
6. Pg Md Faiq (BRU) - 14 points
7. Mohd Nasrun (MAS) - 13 points
8. Ku Jia Loong (MAS) - 13 points

That completes the 16 groups for Stage which will begin tomorrow. The Stage 2 Group Stage match schedule are as follow:-

• 27 Aug, 12pm - Group E, M & P
• 27 Aug, 6pm - Group O, N & L
• 28 Aug, 12pm - Group F, H & J
• 28 Aug, 6pm - Group I, K & G
• 29 Aug, 12pm - Group A, B, C & D

Please click here or the event banner on the left to view the Group Stage Draw.

Successful first timers

(l-r) Simon Yeo, Golden Break representative SS Chua and Imran Ibrahim

Imran Ibrahim and Simon Yeo tried their first attempt at Day 3's Stage 1 Open Qualifiers, at which they went all the way without looking back, to qualify for Stage 2 of the 4th Golden Break 9 Ball Asia Invitational Championship 2012.

Both players had only just arrived the day before to attempt for a spot in Stage 2 and finally made the trip worthwhile.

After the completion of 3 days qualifiers and 6 players going through, tomorrow will be the last day where players can compete for the 2 qualifying spots plus 8 players whom will go through based on the accumulated ranking points over 4 days of match play.

Those who are still interested to participate kindly contact Jasmine Teng at +60 12 314 6014 or register at the Tournament Desk by 12pm, 26 Aug.

Brunei cueist makes it a double

(l-r) Shaiful Bahani, Golden Break representative Khairy and Mohd Khalid

Brunei successfully adds another 2 players to their contingent, as both Mohd Khalid and Shaiful Bahani, qualifies to Stage 2 of the 4th Golden Break 9 Ball Asia Invitational Championship 2012 on Day 2, here at Sri Damansara.

Their other team mates, Gabriel Ian and Pg Md Faiq, however did not do so well and lost in the earlier rounds of the Loser Pool. They will be trying again tomorrow on Day 3 along with other players, all eyeing for a Stage 2 spot in Malaysia's richest pool event.

For those who are still eager to get in the pool action, there are still 2 more days left with a total of 12 spots left.

Brunei's Pool contingent