Saturday, June 14, 2008 Juniors players open Super B 9-ball today
BEFORE the Philippines’ top cue artists battle it out for the coveted P400,000 top purse, the young future billiard stars will be boasting their skills today for the Elementary and High School Division competition of the first Senate President Manny Villar Cup–Sun.Star Superbalita 9-Ball Challenge at the Atrium of SM City Cebu.
The young cue artists will be competing for two days for the top spot before their older counterpart take on each other for the Class B Division set on June 16 and 17.
The qualifying round for the Open Division will be on June 18 and 19, where 32 slots are at stake. The players taking the top 32 spots in the qualifying round will make it to the main draw to join the 18 seeded players.
These ranked players are the main attraction of the competition. Leading the roster is the legendary cue artist Efren “Bata” Reyes, who will be competing alongside former world No.1 Francisco “Django” Bustamante.
Another big name in the competition is former world champion Alex Pagulayan, who is set to defend the Sun.Star Superbalita 9-ball crown.
Also taking part in the event are the present crop of the country’s top player like world top-ranked cue artists Dennis Orcullo, 2005 Superbalita champion Ronnie Alcano, 2007 World Pool runner-up Roberto Gomez, former Asian Games gold medalist Gandy Valle, reigning national title-holder Lee Van Corteza, Warren Kiamco, Rodolfo Luat, Joven Bustamante, Jha–rome Pena, Carlo Biado, Ramil Gallego, Ricky Zerna, Antonio Lining, Elmer Haya and Benson Palce.
Four players each from Manila and Bacolod and two each from Tugue–garao, Dagupan and Davao will sum up the rest of the competitors for the quarterfinals and semifinals set on June 20 and 21.
All the divisions’ finals will be on the final day on June 22.
The registration of the tournament will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 14 for the Elementary and High School Division, June 16 for the Class B Division and June 18 for the Open Division.
Registration fee for the Elementary Division will be P400, P500 for the High School Division, P1,200 for Class B and P2,000 for the Open Division. (EKA)
