Corteza seeks to defend title in China Open 2014
DAVAO City-born Lee Vann Corteza seeks to defend his title as the 2014 World 9-Ball China Open billiards championship unwraps today at the Pudong Yuanshen Stadium in Pudong, Shanghai, China.
The second-seeded Corteza, who hails from Mintal, is joined by other seeded compatriots Dennis Orcollo and Carlio Biado along with Filipino qualifiers Johann Chua, Warren Kiamco and Jeffrey Ignacio.
Corteza, 35, left for Shanghai yesterday in time for the drawing of lots set in the evening.
The four-day cuefest stakes a grand total cash prize of $333,200 with the champion pocketing $40,000.
Corteza, as quoted by wife Gelea, said he’ll give his best to keep the title, saying in a Facebook conversation: “Pirmi lang man niya ingon sa akoa na itry niya iya best para mudaug. Positive man sya and ready man daw sya (He’s been telling me he’ll try his best to win. He’s positive and he’s ready to compete).”
Corteza got the second seeding being ranked men’s World No. 2 in the World Pool Association while World No. 1 Thorsten Hohmann of Germany took the top seeding. Also based in the WPA rankings, Biado and Orcollo will be seeded third and 11th, respectively, in the double elimination, race to nine format stage 2 to determine the Last 32. The double elimination and Last 32 will be race to 11 affairs.
Corteza and Bislig, Surigao del Sur native Orcollo paired to win the World Cup of Pool championship for the Philippines in London last year.
Others seeded in the event are Mika Immonen of Finland (fifth), Nick Ekonomopoulos of Greece (sixth), Darren Appleton of Great Britain (seventh), Pin-Yi Ko of Chinese Taipei (eighth), Chris Melling of Great Britain (ninth), Shane Van Boening of the USA (10th), Can Wang of China (12th) and Niels Feijen of The Netherlands (13th).
The runner-up will take home $20,000 while the third and fourth placers will each get $10,000 and the fifth to eighth will claim $6,000 each. The ninth to 16th placers will settle for $3,000 apiece while $1,800 each will go to the 17th to 32nd placers.
In the women’s event, World No.3 Rubilen Amit and Zamboaga City’s former triple Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalsit Iris Rañola will don the country’s colors. At stake for the women’s champion is $32,000. Chinese Han Yu is top-seed.