Press Release
On May 7th, array of international stars gather in the first station of “the Grand Epoch City·Joy Cup”2015 World Chinese Eight Ball Masters. The former 9-ball world champion Pagulayan is challenged by folk master Shao Hongda at 19:00,and then a strong-strong dialogue begins. The match is forced to stop because of the time limitation after a disappointing draw 6:6. Thus the match goes into penalty kicks. Although Pagulayan ,who has a first try in penalty kick, shoots one ball into the pocket, off to the bad start,he could not accomplish the counterattack with 6:7.Therefore ,Pagulayan could not gain the qualification to top 96.
Even though meeting some challenges, Pagulayan is still in good form for the match in the first stage 384 to 192(double elimination). However, the intensity of the match increases and his opponent is more competitive when the match comes to the second stage. Similar to the previous situation,he arrives at the playing field very earlier,from which we can see that he attaches great importance to this single-elimination match.
With seeded players,including Yu Ting,Qiu Paomou and Yang Fan,having already reached the next round,they are sitting in the side of the field and watch Pagulayan’s match just like his fans.Regrettably,Pagulayan does not do well in the match and makes a series of mistakes,thus leading to his missing the promotion opportunity.
Shao Hongda,the opponent of Pagulayan,is a typical 90s player.It is not hard to see his aggressiveness as a fresh man.Until the 7th set has been finished,Pagulayan still trail by one point,which never occurs in the previous matches.
Pagulayan is a big goof with the ability to charm everyone by his nature of entertainment.When he sees Yang Fan sitting in the audience during the match,he make his classic gestures to ask for his help.This pleasant interaction makes the audience burst into laughter.Once returning to the match,Pagulayan behave both calm and fierce,and his strong desire for wset is so memorable.Unfortunately,the result of the match has not been changed.
Pagulayan makes the score 5:4 after his difficult equalizer in the 8th set.But Shao does not give up any chance to counterattack.In the 12th set,no billiard ball is shot into the pocket after Pagulayan’s racking.He returns to his seat remorsefully and suddenly begins to hit himself on the head,which is exactly the same as the performance of O’ Sullivan in the world championship.And then Shao also makes some mistakes.Until the match is finished,the 6：6 draw does into penalty kicks.
Pagulayan is still struggling to explore the knack of penalty kick while Shao has already shot a ball into the pocket.In the exciting penalty kicks,a cannot help laughing scene appears--When the referee reports middle pocket,Pagulayan should immediately understand it even though his Chinese is poor,and correct it to the bottom pocket,making the audience burst laughing.After 5 rounds of penalty kick,both of them have already shot one ball into the pocket.Finally the match comes to an end with Shao’s shooting the ball into the bottom pocket.
With the love for the Chinese Eight Ball,Pagulayan dares to become a pioneers and joins in the largest Chinese Eight Ball League.Everyone of his match will be a classic that cannot be permanently altered.He never refuses to sign photographs and greet the fans,and he also give some helpful advice for the 15-year-old girl.There is no doubt Pagulayan is a perfect combination of billiards skills and personal quality.
The fail of this match does not means that Pagulayan has left away the field of Chinese Eight Ball.However,he will not stay away from the field permanently,because he is a real master !
