Saturday, March 15, 2008 Unkown Cebuano cue artists claim berths to cash-rich finals
TWO unheralded cue artists from Cebu made it to the main draw of the San Miguel Beer 9-Ball Championship following their successful bids in the qualifying round last weekend in Bacolod City.
Cebu City’s William Chua and Talisay City’s Romar Villones led the hopefuls as they emerged on the top two of the competition to earn the right to represent Visayas in the national finals on Monday in Quezon City.
The two will be going up against Northern Luzon qualifier Aram Serquiano, who won the qualifying in Tuguegarao, also last Sunday.
Chua, Villones and Serquiano will be joining the country’s big names in billiards led by former world champions Efren “Bata” Reyes, Alex Pagulayan and Ronnie Alcano in the 32-man main draw, where they battle for the $10,000 top purse in the tournament sponsored by San Miguel Corporation.
Prior to the main event, there will be another set of qualifying tournament until tomorrow in Quezon City. The winners will complete the list of participants.
The other seeded players, who are expected to take part in the competition are Francisco “Django” Bustamante, current world No.1 Dennis Orcullo, 2007 World Pool runner-up Roberto Gomez, reigning national champion Lee Van Corteza, former Asian Games gold medalist Gandy Valle, veteran international campaigners Rodolfo Luat, Warren Kiamco, Antonio Lining and Ramil Gallego and top rising star Joven Bustamante.
The tournament is co-organized by Puyat Sports and Negros Billiards Stable and is open to all billiards players that offers a total cash prize of $25,000.
The three-day tournament, which is also sponsored by the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation, Trinoma, Ayala Malls will be shown live on ABC 5 from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The top four finishers in each of the qualifying tournaments will advance to the main tournament with the remaining wildcard berths awarded to the next two highest overall point-earners. NSM and EKA
