Semi Finals of the World Pool Championship

Semi Finals of the World Pool ChampionshipThe final of the 2004 Taiwan World Pool Championship will be between Canada’s Alex Pagulayan, a beaten finalist last year and shock Taiwanese underdog Pei-wei Chang.Pagulayan followed on from his superb victory over Fong-pang Chao with a more comfortable 11 – 4 win over Po-cheng Kuo on the second table to book his spot.For Chang, who dumped out remaining US hope Johnny Archer in the quarters, it was a great 11 – 9 come from behind win over Sweden’s Marcus Chamat that saw him through.Alex Pagulayan (CAN) 11 – 4 Po-cheng Kuo (TPE)Pei-wei Chang (TPE) 11 – 9 Marcus Chamat (SWE)Tournament Brackets for the 2004 World Pool Championship
The Canadian-based Pinoy was flying after his superb win over Fong pang Chao. “Chao played really good, I think he missed just one ball, he said“It was one of the most exciting matches of my life. I love it when the crowd are rooting against me, it makes me feel like the underdog with nothing to lose“For the semi final match against Kuo, I felt really good like I was never going to miss. Last year, I got drunk the night before the final, but not this time as I’m going to give myself every chance.“I don’t want to know who I’m going to play until tomorrow. Last year, I had nightmares about Thorsten Hohmann! The big question is whether the 25 year-old ‘Pool Kid’ from Taipei can cope with what will be by far and away the biggest moment of his life. Pagulayan, has plenty of experience of big finals and his runners-up spot last year will stand him in good stead.Chang has claimed some impressive scalps on his way to the final. Warren Kiamco fell in the round of 64, followed by Norway’s Raymond Hauge in the next. His last 16 victory was over Dennis Orcollo and that was followed by the fantastic 11 – 10 win over Archer.Pagulayan had wins over European duo Andreja Klasovic and Austria’s Martin Kempter to put him into the last 16 where he beat Chien-che Huang 11 – 7.Action starts at 9.30 on Sunday evening and Chang, whose only previous visit to the World Pool Championship did not progress beyond the group stages, has vowed to take revenge on Alex the Lion after his defeat of his hero Fong-pang Chao.Today’s beaten semi-finalist pocketed $20,000 apiece whilst the money on offer at tomorrow’s final is $75,000 to the winner and $35,000 for the runner-up. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the sport of billiards and pool.

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