MANILA, Philippines—Four Filipino cue masters, led by 2004 World Pool champion Alex Pagulayan, will take on seven other Asians in the grand finals of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour 2008 at Mal Taman Anggrek in Jakarta on Oct. 24 to 26.

Pagulayan, the Singapore leg winner who is ranked fourth in the Tour’s Order of Merit with 165 points, Taipei leg runner-up Joven Bustamante (fifth, 160), Guangzhou champion and Singapore runner-up Dennis Orcollo (seventh, 140) and Genting runner-up Antonio Gabica (ninth, 125) are among the contenders for the $36,000 top prize.

Three Chinese-Taipei players occupy the No. 1 to 3 spots with defending Grand Finals champion Chang Jung-lin ranked first with 260 points on the strength of consecutive victories in the Taipei, Penang and Genting legs.

Trailing him are Yang Ching-shun (190) and Wang Hung Hsiang (180).

Others in the Top 10 are Chinese-Taipei’s Wu Chia-ching (sixth, 155), Korea’s Ryu Seung-woo (eighth, 130) and Malaysia’s Ibrahim Bin Amir (10th, 100).

The 11th entry is wildcard Ricky Yang, the host country’s top-ranked player.

The eleven players will be divided into two groups of six and five. Players of each group will play in a single round robin format. The top two players from each group will advance to the semifinals, with the winners meeting in the finals.

The top 10 players in the Grand Final have also been awarded slots to the 2009 World 9-Ball championship as the Guinness Tour is the only ranking event in Asia. Romina S. Austria