Gomez Reaches Finals

Gomez Reaches Finals
Filipino billiards player Roberto ‘Superman’ Gomez has won a place in the final of the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship and is favourite to beat England’s Daryl Peach in tomorrow’s showdown.
Gomez, 29, from Zamboanga City, Mindanao but currently residing in Manila, looked the complete player once again as he beat England’s game Karl Boyes 11-4 on Table 2.
I feel happy because almost all the people are from the Philippines, so that’s my crowd, said Gomez.
I was looking for the soft break but I couldn’t make it work. At the start I felt a little bit nervous but I’m very happy now.
Filipino Gomez is another of the seemingly never-ending production line of tough match players from the Philippines who have the break, all the shots and nerves of steel.
He is also the first man from the highly competitive pre-event qualifying school to go all the way to the final.
For Boyes, 25, it was a fabulous run in his first ever World Pool Championship, which he only gained entry to by winning a qualifying event in Holland in September. He has beaten a string of top players and will surely be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
On the harder-breaking Table Two, Gomez deserted the soft break which he had used so effectively on the main table earlier, in favour of controlled power.
Boyes won the lag and looked very comfortable taking the early lead. He continued in the same vein and at 4-0 looked in a good position.
Gomez though got to the table at last in the fifth game and from there on it was strictly one-way traffic.
He always made balls on the break and his shot-making was excellent. Boyes’ few visits were restricted to safeties as Gomez got away from him. A golden break in the 12th rack compounded the Englishman’s misery but in 9 ball there is little you can do from your chair.
Finally, Gomez downed the winning 9 ball to keep Filipino hopes alive of a second consecutive World Pool Championship crown.