Billiards
Wide-open battle seen in Pacman 10-ball
With Dennis Orcullo, Ronnie Alcano, Lee Van Corteza, Carlo Biado, Thorsten Hohmann, Hunter Lombardo and more crack cue artists, the Pacman International 10-Ball Cup promises to be a slambang affair.
The competition kicks off Tuesday, December 13, at the Star Billiards Center in Quezon City.
The $30,000 top prize was put up by eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, himself an avid supporter of pool.
The tournament employs a double elimination, race-to-9 format until the quarterfinals. In the crossover knockout semis stage, games will be played in race-to-11, according to tournament director Edgar Acaba, who confirmed the star-studded cast in the event.
“Only Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes and Django Bustamante won’t be joining as they weren’t allowed by their manager to participate. Pero halos lahat ng magagaling sa atin kasali na,” said Acaba, who added that a total of 50 players are now entered in the main draw of the tournament.
Orcullo, the reigning world No. 1 player and the World Pool-Billiard Association Player of the Year, is favored in the tournament. He is expected to encounter stiff opposition from other crack players like Alcano, the world’s No. 3 player, former World 10-Ball runner-up Lee Van Corteza, and former world No. 1 Antonio Lining, three members of the stable of sportsman/businessman Jonathan Sy.
National pool champion Carlo Biado and former world pool runner-up Roberto Gomez, two players from Perry Mariano’s Bugsy’s Promotions, are also expected to make their presence felt in the tournament, whose prizes will be distributed all the way to the 24th place.
Two formidable foreign players, former world champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany and Hunter Lombardo of the United States, have also arrived to compete in the event, which offers a $60,000 total prize fund.
A former World 9-Ball champion, Hohmann won his first major title in the Philippines last year by beating his pool idol and fellow German Ralf Souquet.
Lombardo won the Mezza Prom Am Tour this year.
