DEFENDING champion Kristel Joy Villamor of Unit 1 faces a strong opponent in former SunStar SuperBalita 9-ball elementary champion Jackelyn Banosong of Unit 2 for the Davao City Athletic Association Meet (DCAA) 2016 secondary girls 8-ball gold medal at 1 p.m. Friday, November 11, at the NCCC Mall Bowling, Billiards and Bar Center in Davao City.
The finale will be a race-to-seven affair.
Villamor, a 16-year-old Grade 10 student of Davao City National High School, first demolished Almie Shane Mones of Unit 4 before beating Cielo Marie Martinez of Unit 3, 5-2, in the semifinals.
The 17-year-old Banosong, for her part, shutout Fritz Saligumba, 5-0, after crushing Febie Jane Estimada, 4-0.
Villamor, also a Batang Pinoy 2015 champion, said she has not played Banosong yet, thus, she does not know what to expect.
“Paningkamutan nako madepensahan akong title, tan-awon ra ni ugma (I’ll do my best to defend my title, let's just see tomorrow),” Villamor said in an interview with SunStar Davao at B3 Thursday, November 10, adding that she hopes to reach the Palarong Pambansa this year considering that in the past three years, she only managed to compete until the Davao Region Athletic Association Meet.
She started playing billiards in fourth grade since his uncle has a billiards table at Garcia Heights Subdivision.
Banosong, a 17-year-old Grade 9 student at A.L. Navarro National High School (ALNHS), said she is excited to mark her DCAA Meet debut.
“Private school ko dati man gud, walay billiards ngadto so nibalhin jud ko og eskwelahan para makadula ko sa DCAA kay gusto jud ko mag Palarong Pambansa (I studied at a private school before and there was no billiard there so I moved at ALNHS so I can play in the DCAA Meet because I really want to play in the Palarong Pambansa),” Banosong said in a separate interview while waiting for the 9-ball action to start.
She shared tournaments for female players like her are very rare and that she missed the tournaments that SunStar Davao organized several years ago. The last one she competed in was in 2014.
Banosong also said she aims to sweep the secondary girls 9-ball and 8-ball golds of the Dcaa Meet, saying, “Kayahon nako (I’ll do it).”
Jovet Nazareno of Unit 3 and Christian Yamba of Unit 4 will also play for the secondary boys 8-ball gold Friday.
Nazareno survived a 5-4 thriller over Arnel Ragas of Unit 2 while Yamba eked out a 5-2 win over Barry Corpuz of Unit 3 in their respective semifinals matches.
Martinez outclassed Saligumba, 3-1, to salvage the secondary girls 8-ball bronze while Ragas outlasted Corpuz, 5-4, for the bronze in the boys’ side.
DCAA champions will advance to the Davraa Meet 2017.