Ko survives opening day jitters

Taiwanese pool sensation Ko Pin-Yi held his nerve in a tightly contested 6-5 win over Filipino veteran Warren Kiamco.

Ko raced to a quick 3 - 1 lead over his rival and looked certain that he was going to cruise to an easy victory. But in the 4th frame, a missed slice attempt on the one ball corner pocket gave Kiamco just enough wiggle room to capitalize on the error, which lead to a routine clean-up to get back in contention at 2 - 3.
From there, momentum was on the Filipino's side as he claimed the next two racks, 4 - 3 to turn the tide and lead the race-to-6 contest for the first time. Refusing to succumb to pressure, Ko somehow managed to battle nerves to keep pace with Kiamco with impeccable safety plays.
With neither player refusing to give up, the match went the distance to tie at 5 - 5, much to the delight of the crowd. Unfortunately for Kiamco, he was the first to crack under pressure as he botched a two-rail kick safety attempt which Ko capitalised for the well deserved victory 6 - 5.
The two other Taiwanese competing in the tournament, Chang Jung-Lin and Kuo Po-Cheng have yet to begin their respective campaigns at press time.
Earlier in the morning session, current World no. 1 Dennis Orcollo displayed impeccable pool skills to earn a dominating win over Indonesia's Sumaryadi, 6 - 0 to jump start his bid for the championship. Not to be outdone, fellow country man and defending champion Jundel Mazon overcame a slow start to defeat his Indonesian rival Roy Apanco 6 - 4.

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Telecast of the 2011 Guinness World Series of Pool - 10Ball challenge will be carried LIVE on STAR Sports, with fifteen hours of exhilarating competition from July 15 - 17, 2011. Broadcast times are as follows:
Fri, July 15, 2011 from 18.00-22.30 (HKT) Preliminaries
Sat, July 16, 2011 from 12.00-18.00 (HKT) Quarterfinals
Sun, July 17, 2011 from 11.00-16.00 (HKT) Semifinals & Finals

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Seemingly relaxed and well prepared, Orcollo wasted no time in his match against Sumaryadi. Running out the table whenever he broke and pouncing on countless careless mistakes by the Indonesian, it almost seemed the match was over even before it began. In fact, by the 5th rack, confidence broken and still seemingly unable to find his stroke, Sumaryadi unintentionally conceded by arriving a few minutes late after the mandatory 5th rack timeout which gave away the final rack to the Filipino.
On the other hand, things were a bit more interesting in the match between Mazon and Apanco. Down 1 - 3 and with momentum on the Indonesian's side, Mazon seemed to be in trouble. But once again, luck proved to be a huge factor in the game of pool as a dry break from Apanco in the 7th frame with the score 2 - 4 gave the soft-spoken Pinoy the only window of opportunity he needed to notch four unanswered racks for a thrilling come from behind victory.