Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Manalo, Sambajon get invite for Champs’ tourney
After falling in the International Pool Tour North American 8-Ball Championships, Marlon Manalo will get another chance to win a prestigious crown in the International Challege of Champions on Aug. 9-10 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville.
Manalo, who finished runner-up to Thorsten Hohmann in the 8-Ball Championships, is just one of the select eight champions invited for the $50,000 winner-take-all event.
Others in the field are defending champion Fong Pang Chao of Taiwan, 2006 BCA Open Champion Ralf Soquet, 2005 Glass City Open champion Johnny Archer, 2005 Skins Billiards Champion Santos Sambajon, who is also from the Philippines, 2006 Euro Tour Champion Alex Lely, 2005 Big Apple Champion Niels Feijen and Hohmann, who is also the 2006 World Straight Pool Champion.
According to a statement posted at Azbilliards.com, "the International Challege of Champions is regarded as the supreme test of skill in professional billiards. The eight players are so evenly matched that any one player could beat the other seven on a given day."
The tournament format is also a demanding test of 9-ball skills. To minimize the “luck factor” the nine ball doesn't count on the break and to win a game, the 9-ball is a “call shot.”
The players will play two sets of race-to-five games. In case of a draw, they will play a one rack sudden death tie-breaker.
"The caliber of competition is so intense that a single mistake invariably eliminates a player from any chance at the winner-take-all purse of $50,000," the statement said. (ML)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 2, 2006 issue)
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