A TOTAL cash prize of P76,000 will be up for grabs in the 2nd Sun.Star Superbalita Mindanao Open 9-Ball Challenge set on November 28 and 29 at the NCCC Mall Bowling, Billiards and Bar (B3) Center, event over-all chairperson and Sun.Star Davao Publishing Inc. marketing supervisor Tessie Paña announced Monday.

The champion will pocket P40,000 cash and a trophy while the runner-up will receive P15,000 cash. The next two placers will go home with P10,000 and P5,000."

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Paña said the rest of the four quarter-finalists will claim consolation prize of P1,500 each in the two-day knockout system format tournament sanctioned by the Davao Billiards Association, Inc. (DBAI) and sponsored by SkyCable, Viktoriano's Place, 8990 Housing Development Corp., NCCC Mall B3, G.Q.W.E.S.T., Microtel Inn and Suites, Grand Men Seng Hotel, City Mayor's Office, San Miguel Corporation and Sunpride Foods Inc.

DBAI president Meneleo Migellano, before leaving to compete in the All-Japan Open 9-Ball Tournament, said this one of the biggest billiards events in the region.

"We expect a high level of competition from among Mindanao players here," Migellano said.

He said most veterans from all over Mindanao are expected to come and get a shot at the top purse but Davao City bets, including defending champion Gandy Valle, will try to keep the title that he won during the inaugural staging of the meet last year.

"The veteran internationalist Valle, our Bangkok Asian Games gold medalist in 1998, is already seeded in the quarter-finals along with another titled Mindanao player," he said during a recent Sun.Star Superbalita 9-Ball committee meeting.

Valle, however, will also defend his Sunstar Superbalita 9-Ball crown in Cebu City starting on November 13. He is also set to banner the country's colors once again as a member of the RP billiards and snooker team seeing action in the biennial Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos next month.