Thursday, November 13, 2008 Group plans National Billiards League
The Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP) forged a pact with Solar Sports to be the official television station of the National Billards League (NBL).
The NBL, which will start next year, also found a new home in the AMF-Puyat Bowling Inn and Billiards, in Malate, Manila.
The Bowling Inn is currently undergoing a major facelift to make it a state-of-the-art venue for billiards.
“We are all excited with the NBL. It will not only provide jobs for 48 players but it will also give the Filipino cue artists an advantage because they will be training more rigidly because of the league,” Bugsy Sports Promotions owner Perry Mariano told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
The league is a product of a long study made by billiards godfather Aristeo “Putch” Puyat and became a reality behind the
support of Mariano and the Negros Billiards Stable owner Jonathan Sy.
The NBL format is patterned after that of the Philippine Basketball Association.
“This is a professional league with each team representing a corporate sponsor. We finalized the initial format of the tournament but we are yet to discuss the other details,” added Mariano.
Each team will be composed of six players each playing in the doubles and singles events.
According to Mariano, the team winning three games will take the contest.
Big names like Efren “Bata” Reyes, Ronnie Alcano, Alex Pagulayan, Francisco “Django” Bustamante and current world No.1 Dennis Orcullo, among others have committed to take part in the league.
The drafting of teams on Dec. 26 will determine the members of each team.
“We will be announcing our corporate sponsors before the end of November. NBL is tentatively scheduled to open on the first week of January,” Mariano said. (RCM)
