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Double
world champion Ronnie Alcano seeks to extend his reign
in one of his domains and become just the second player
ever to successively rule the World Pool Championship (WPC)
when the biggest pool show on earth unfolds its 18th
edition tomorrow at the Araneta Coliseum.
Alcano,
who is seeded atop Group One, takes on unheralded Saeed
Ahmed al-Mutawa of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to
jump-start his bid to become the first player to
successfully defend the WPC crown since American Earl
Strickland won the first two editions.
“Medyo
pressured dahil alam kong nakatingin lahat sa akin
ngayon,” said the 35-year-old Calamba City-native,
who also bagged the World 8-Ball Championship plum
earlier this year.
“Pero
puspusan naman ’yung ginawa kong paghahanda, kaya tingin
ko maganda pa rin ang tsansa ko,” he added.
Besides
Alcano, 14 other Filipinos will be on hand to help keep
the crown in the country and affirmed its claim as the
Mecca of pool.
They are
former champions Efren “Bata” Reyes and Alex Pagulayan,
Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Lee Van Corteza, Dennis
Orcollo, Marlon Manalo, Antonio Lining, Ramil Gallego,
Rodolfo Luat, Joven Bustamante, Jeffrey de Luna and
wild-cards Antonio “Gaga” Gabica, Leonardo Andam and
Roberto Gomez. Except for Gabica and Joven Bustamante.
Reyes, who opened the floodgate of Filipinos dominance
by winning the WPC in 1999, will begin his bid in Group
Six against Japanese qualifier Kenichi Uchigaki in the
tournament’s first televised match slated at 11 a.m.
“Mahirap
na nga ngayon dahil ang dami ng magagaling. Ang lamang
na lang natin ay ’yung dunong at saka siguro ’yung
homecourt advantage,” said the 52-year-old icon. “Sana
nga isa man lang sa aming mga Pilipino ang manalo para
masaya ang buong bansa.”
Gabica
and Joven Bustamante, who are both in Group Four, will
be the only other Filipinos seeing action in the opening
day of this $400,000 competition with the former taking
on five-time Italian champion Bruno Muratore, while the
latter will make his WPC debut versus Ibrahim Bin Amir
of Malaysia
Pagulayan, who followed Reyes’s footsteps by winning the
tournament in 2004, will start his quest on Sunday
opposite Hamsa Mohammed Saeed Ali of Eritrea, the same
day Francisco Bustamante, who finished runner-up to
Strickland in 2002, goes up against Zbynek Vaic of
Russia in Group Nine—the so-called “Group of Death”,
which also has Lining in it. Lining will face former
Asian Games gold medalist Jeong Young Hwa of South
Korea.
The
other local bets opening their bids on Day Two are
Japan-based Gallego, who will meet Singaporean Chan Keng
Kwang in Group Seven and reigning national champion
Corteza, who will tackle Goran Mladenovic of Serbia in
Group 12.
On
Monday, it will be Asian Games silver medalist de
Luna’s, 2005 WPC semifinalist Manalo’s and veteran
internationalists Andam’s chance to strut their wares.
De Luna faces off with veteran campaigner Sandor Tot of
Serbia in Group Five, Manalo crosses cue stick with
Dejan Dabovic of Austria and Andam slugs it out with
former titlist and last year’s runner-up Ralf Souquet in
Group Two.
Luat,
Orcollo and Gomez comprise the last batch of hometown
bets to begin their pursuit of the billiards Holy Grail
as they see action on Tuesday. Luat will go up against
Toh Lian Han of Singapore in Group 16, Orcollo against
Kenny Kwok of Hong Kong in Group 13, and Gomez opposite
Niels Feijen of the Netherlands in Group 16.
After
the Group Stage matches, the tournament shifts to
knockout phase with the Last 64 to be played in a
race-to-10, winner breaks format, while the Last 32,
Last 16, quarterfinals and semifinals all race-to-11.
The finals will be a race-to-17 affair. |
