2ND WORLD TEN BALL ELIMS BEGINS TODAY AT THE FAMOUS STAR BILLIARDS CENTER

MANILA,PHILIPPINES—EXPECTS world’s renowned pool masters are seeing in action in the second World Ten-Ball Championship (WTBC) qualifying round which unreels today,Thursday, Nov.19 to 23 at the famous Star Billiards Center,No.46 Joy Street in Grace Village, Quezon City.

According to Florentino “Yen” Makabenta, chairman of Raya Sports, the organizer of the 2^nd WTBC, to complete the main draw of 128 players, the remaining 10 spots will be contested by over 130 players in the WTBC qualifiers. The five-day (Nov. 19 to 23) qualification tournament is hosted by long-time billiards patron and Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) president Sebastian “Baste” Chua.

Roberto “Pinoy Superman”Gomez, who lost to Great Britain’s Daryl Peach in the finals of 2007 World Pool Championships at the Big Dome will vie for the remaining 10 spots along with 2006 Sydney WPA World Junior quarter-finalists Rene Mar “Revo” David and 2008 Reno WPA World Junior quarter-finalists Jonas Magpantay, among others local and foreign counterpart.

The WTBC Prize Fund has been increased from the original $253,000 to $262,000 with the champion getting the lion share of $60,000 while the runner-up gets $30,000. The 3^rd and 4^th will bring home $15,000 while the 5^th to 8^th placers will be receiving $7,500 each.

Ninth to 16^th placers pocketed $4,000 each, 17^th to 32^nd placers went home $2,500 each while 33^rd to 64^th placers awaits $1,000 each.

Leading the Filipino charge in the tournament proper scheduled on November 25 to 30 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City are former double world champion (WPA 9-ball and 8-ball Champion) Ronato “Volcano” Alcano, 2009 Predator International 10-Ball champion Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo, 2008 WTBC semi-finalists Demosthenes Plong-Plong”Pulpul, 2006 World Pool Champion third placer Marlon “Marvelous” Manalo, 2006 Doha Asian Games 9-ball gold medalist Antonio “Ga-Ga” Gabica, 2007 Manny Pacquiao International 9-Ball Champion Jeffrey “The Bull” De Luna, 2008 WPA World Junior finalist Jerico Banares, 2009 All Japan 9-Ball Championship third placer Warren “Warrior”Kiamco, Southeast Asian Games multiple gold medallist Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza and Middle East pool instructor Allan “Surigao” Cuartero.

“I will do my very best for flag and country,” said the Mandaluyong ace Marlon “Marvelous”Manalo, who won numerous titles in the US circuit this year.

Slovenia, Greece and Norway are joining the world championship for the first time. The other players who have secured spots in the main draw of the WTBC are: Louis Condo and Ben Nunan (Australia), Mario He and Martin Kempter (Austria), Serge Das (Belgium), MB Alias (Brunei), Alain Martel, Raymond Cruz, Erik Hjorleifson, Adam Smith and Tyler Edey (Canada), Li Hewen, Fu Jianbo and Liu Haitao (China), Phil Stojanovic (Croatia), Roman Hybler (Czech Republic), Kasper Kristoffersen and Bahram Lofty (Denmark), Stephan Cohen and Vincent Facquet (France), Andreas Loukiadakis (Greece), Kenny Kwok (Hong Kong), I Alwi Alwi, Widi Harsoyo and Ricky Yang (Indonesia), Farhad Shahverdi (Iran), Fabio Petroni and Bruno Muratore (Italy), Ibrahim Bin Amir and Lee Poh Soon (Malaysia), Ignacio Chavez (Mexico), Vegar Kristiansen (Norway), Mateusz Sniegocki, Thomasz Kaplan, Mariusz Skoneczny and Radoslaw Babica (Poland), Basher Hussain, Abdulatef Fawal and Rashid Al Mari (Qatar), Konstantin Stepanov and Ruslan Chinakhov (Russia), Sandor Tot (Serbia), Tey Choon Kiat and Toh Lian Han (Singapore), Matjaz Erculj (Slovenia), Jason Theron and Alphonse Hoge (South Africa), David Alcaide and Rafael Guzman (Spain), Marcus Chamat (Sweden), Dimitri Jungo (Switzerland), Mehmet Cankurt and Ramazan Dincer (Turkey), Frailin Guanica and Jalal Youse (Venezuela) and Nguyen Anh Tuan (Vietnam).

Leading the stellar cast in the only world men’s championship this year are reigning world 10-ball champion Darren Appleton of Great Britain, current world No.1 Ralf Souquet of Germany, and newly-crowned US Open  champion and leading 2009 money winner Mika Immonen of Finland. But they will have plenty of challengers from every point of the globe.

Great Britain will strive to keep the world title with 10 players. Besides Appleton, the members of the British contingent are: 2007 world 9-ball champion Daryl Peach, Imran Majid, Scott Higgins, Craig Osborne, Karl Boyes, Jonni Fulcher, Ricardo Jones, Phil Burford and Chris Melling.

Souquet, 2008 world 8-ball champion and World Games gold medalist, leads  the nine-man German contingent. The other players are: former world champions Thorsten Hohmann and Oliver Ortmann, Thomas Engert, Marko Vogel, Christoph Reintjes, Ralf Mund, Klaus Zobrekis and Benjamin Heimmerer.

The US contingent of nine players is bannered by former US Open and Predator 10-ball champion Shane Van Boening, former world champion Johnny Archer, Corey Deuel, Stevie Moore, Charlie Bryant, Shaun Wilkie, Charlie Williams, Shawn Putnam and Oscar Dominguez.

Chinese-Taipei, a major powerhouse in Asia, is represented by nine formidable players: former two-time world 9-Ball champion Fong Pang Chao, money-game king Ching-Shun Yang, two-time world junior champion Pin-Yi Ko, Yu-Lung Chang, Po-Cheng Kuo, Tsung-Hua Cheng, Hui-chan Lu, Che-Wei Fu, and Hung-Hsiang Wang.

Host Philippines has, at this point, 11 player entries. They are led by Jeffrey De Luna (No. 7 in the world rankings), Demosthenes  Pulpul (No. 8), former world no. 1 Dennis Orcullo, former double world champion Warren Kiamco, and noted international campaigners Lee Van Corteza and Marlon Manalo.

The other Filipino players who have earned seats are: Warren Kiamco, Antonio Gabica, Allan Cuartero, and Jerico Banares.

Five Japanese players are entered in the main draw – Hayato Hijikata, Yukio Akakariyama, Toru Kuribayashi, Naoyuki Ooi and Satoshi Kawabata.

Korea has four players in Young Hwa Jeong, Woong Dae Kim, Chul Mook Choi and Seung Woo Ryu.

China is represented by three international campaigners: Jian-Bo Fu, He-wen Li, and Hai-tao Liu.

Immonen will be joined by Markus Java in representing Finland. He is currently ranked third in the world.

Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, rated fourth in the world, will be joined by compatriots Nick Van Den Berg and Huidji See.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO.