Competition Heats Up In The Masters

TRICKSHOT champion Alex Pagulayan aims to win the 2006 PartyCasino.com World Pool Masters – but his preparations have been far from ideal.

Canadian-Filipino Pagulayan arrived at the competition on Friday but was missing one thing – his luggage, including his clothes and cues.

Luckily for the popular 27-year-old his possessions arrived on Saturday morning, only hours before he was scheduled to take part in the World Pool Trickshots Championships. But an entertaining routine saw him the lift the trophy and he hopes he can enjoy similar success in the Masters.

“I have been playing pool every day and feel good so I have a chance to win,” said Pagulayan, who wants to perform well after a long journey from America .

I was flying from Hawaii to San Francisco , then to Minneapolis , then to Amsterdam. But when I got to Minneapolis they had given my seat away.”

Pagulayan eventually got that issue sorted but his travel problems had not ended as he arrived at Amsterdam without his luggage.

He said: “I have been through that before so it did not bother me that much but it would have done if I had not got the cues. But they got them to me so it didn’t affect me at all. If I had been playing on Friday then I would have been in a bit of trouble.”

Pagulayan is first in action on Saturday as he hopes to extend Steve Davis’s dismal record in the Masters. Davis reached the semi-finals in 1997 but has lost each of his eight matches since and Pagulayan is confident of securing a place in the quarter-final.

He added: “I have played him quite a bit and I have got a good record with him so I think I have got a pretty good chance. It’s a race to eight so anyone can win but you just have to get out there and the best you can.”

In today’s other matches, Imran Majid takes on 1999 winner Alex Lely, who finished fifth out of seven in the World Pool Trickshots competition. The third encounter of Saturday’s first session sees a repeat of the 2002 final as Germany ’s Ralf Souquet, who won that title, faces legendary Filipino Efren Reyes.

This evening there are a further three games, starting with Germany ’s Thomas Engert versus Malta ’s Tony Drago. The last first round match looks set to be a thrilling encounter as former snooker world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan is up against current 9-ball world champion Wu Chia-ching.

After this comes the first quarter final as Raj Hundal faces Niels Feijen as the pair defeated Hiroshi Takenaka and Rodney Morris respectively in the first round.