Daryl Peach of Great Britain flanked by Verna Mariano and Airport Casino Manager Dan DG Enriquez
Manila, Philippines---Britain's Daryl "The Dazzler" Peach, pulled off an amazing come-from-behind 9-7 finish over Filipino cue master Ronato "Volcano" Alcano, to win the Philippine Bigtime Billiards (PBB) Face Off Series dubbed as "The Dazzler and The Volcano" late Saturday at the PAGCOR Airport Casino in Paranaque City.
The 39 year old Peach, a native of Castleford West Yorkshire England, came back from 7-2 down winning seven straight racks after Alcano collapsed in the end game.
"In the start of the match I was so nervous when (Ronato) Alcano took a 7-2 lead," said Peach, who beat Alcano in the 2006 International Pool Tour (IPT) in Las Vegas, Nevada and 2007 World Pool (9-ball) Championships in Manila.
"However i didn't lose hope because of the winner's break format. Maybe I could turn the situation around but I needed to play solid," added Peach, who became the first Englishman to capture the World Pool Championship title, beating Filipino qualifier Roberto "Pinoy Superman" Gomez, 17-15 in the finals match in the sport's biggest tournament 2007 World 9-Ball at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.
The race-to-9, winner's break, 10-ball match was a joint undertaking of Mega Sports World and BRKHRD Corp. and held in cooperation with Airport Casino Filipino, Crown Sound System, Sakura Amplifiers, Home Theater Systems, Malungai Life Oil, Diamond Billiard table, Hermes Sports Bar, I-Bar, Golden Leaf Restaurant, Bugsy Promotions, Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP) with The Philippine Star as the official media partner.
"I guess it's not my day," said the 39-years-old Alcano from Calamba City, Laguna, who beat Peach during the 2007 World 8-ball Championships in United Arab Emirates.
After a 7-all deadlock in the 14th rack, Alcano, a former WPA World 9-ball and 8-ball champion had a big chance to reach the hill after Peach scratched in the 15th rack, but failed to capitalized on the error by Peach.
From there, Peach never looked back winning two straight racks for an impressive come-from-behind 9-7 victory. Peach's next assignment will be a match against World 9-ball Champion Francisco "Django" Bustamante on Saturday, November 26.
Peach took home the top $5,000 purse while Alcano settled for $2,500 in the Mega Sports World and BRKHRD Corp.joint undertaking event which was aired worldwide through the internet at www.megasportsworld.com, www.philippinebigtimebilliards.com, www.starbilliards.com, www.starbilliards.com.ph, Solar Sports, Sky Channel 70 and Destiny Channel 34.
It was three in a row for the foreign bets' domination of the circuit after German Ralf Souquet beat Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo and Carlo "Carlo" Biado in the previous PBBF matches.
Other matches schedule pit Yang Ching Shun of Chinese-Taipei vs Lee Vann Corteza on Dec.3, Yang vs Dennis Orcollo on Dec.10, Chang Jung Lin of Chinese-Taipei vs Roberto Gomez on Dec.17, Chang vs Alcano on Dec.23 and Wu Chia Ching of China vs Efren "Bata" Reyes on Dec.30.
