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ANOTHER
decorated pool player is claiming he was axed from the
national team because of “political reasons.”
Jeff de
Luna, a silver medalist in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, is
disappointed over his ejection from the 13-man national
pool in what he considers a controversial decision that
was “politically motivated”.
De Luna,
who has won his share of local and international events
recently, alleged that the Billiards and Snooker
Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) headed by Ernesto
Fajardo took him out of the team, and essentially out of
the 24th Southeast Asian Games.
JEFF DE LUNA poses with his
silver medal alongside gold medalist Antonio Gabica in
last year’s Asian Games in Doha
“They
said they will field [Ronnie] Alcano and [Dennis]
Orcullo. It’s very clear that they are favoring other
names in determining the members of the national team,”
a disenchanted de Luna, 23, said.
Besides
missing the trip to the SEA Games in December, de Luna
was also stripped of all the privileges accorded a
national player, including a monthly allowance of P9,000
which he stopped receiving last month.
“There
was no Filipino who wanted to play in the Asian Games
because all of them were in the United States. But now,
they drop me. That is unfair. I think that it’s okay for
them to do that if I didn’t have a medal to show,” de
Luna lamented.
De Luna
defeated Orcollo in the first Pacman International
9-ball Open while Alcano and Lee Van Corteza are being
criticized for turning down the chance to represent the
country in the Asian Games for a more lucrative
tournament abroad.
Fajardo
countered de Luna’s claims, saying other players were
performing better than de Luna. Fajardo cited de Luna’s
poor performance in the Guinness Asian 9-ball Tour, an
event that staged so close to the deadline set for the
submission of the final roster of SEA Games athletes to
the Thai organizers.
“There’s
no politics there. In fact, we tried to push him hard
because we know that the competition for a [national
team] slot will be very competitive. It just showed that
nobody’s job is safe,” Fajardo said, saying he informed
de Luna’s business manager before coming up with a final
decision.
A few
months ago, the BSCP struck off former world champion
Alex Pagulayan from the national pool citing “poor
conduct.”
The
relatively unknown de Luna stunned the pool-crazy
Filipinos when he defeated his foreign foe in the 9-ball
semifinals and arranged an all-Filipino finals showdown
against Antonio Gabica in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
Epicenter of pool indeed
WITH
eight Filipinos already through the next stage, the
Philippines owns the highest probability of snaring the
coveted title from among the entries from 45 countries
in the ongoing championship.
And that
includes Chinese-Taipei, which has been threatening to
snatch from the Philippines the enviable tag as the
“epicenter of pool.”
“So far
so good,” said Fajardo. “We at the BSCP believe that we
are still the best billards-playing country, and this
impressive showing is confirming that. We just hope that
the trend continues.”
Alcano
is leading the host country’s charge, along with former
titlists Efren “Bata” Reyes and Alex Pagulayan,
Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Antonio “Gaga” Gabica,
Ramil Gallego, Joven Bustamante and Lee Van Corteza.
With
only Antonio Lining falling by the wayside, the
Philippines has the highest batting average among
countries with multiple entries.
Chinese-Taipei has the second most number of entrants
with four to the last 64 halfway through the Group Play.
But the Taiwanese also has three of their bets already
out of the running.
Three
other Filipinos were poised to barge into the last 64
yesterday as Leonardo “Dodong” Andam, Marlon Manalo and
Jeff de Luna all won their opening matches.
Andam,
who had to go through the qualifying tournaments last
week, provided the biggest upset so far as he defeated
last year’s runner-up Ralf Souquet, 9-5, in their Group
Two match.
The win
put the 47-year-old former Southeast Asian Games
multigold medalist on the verge of advancing to the
knockout stage, a feat missed achieving last year aftert
losing to Souquet, the 1996 titlist, in the Group Play.
“Bihira
na akong lumaro kaya natatandaan ko mga laban at kalaban
ko. Kaya nu’ng nalaman ko na kami ang maglalaban sinabi
ko sa sarili ko na babawian ko siya,” said Andam,
who considered his four gold medal haul in the 1991 SEA
Games as his biggest accomplishment.
Manalo,
meanwhile, slipped past Dejan Dabovic of Serbia, 9-7, to
jumpstart his bid in Group 14.
De Luna,
on the other hand, trounced another Serbian in Sander
Tot, 9-5, to move into the winner’s bracket in Group
Five for a meeting with Taiwanese Fu Che-wei for the
group’s first last 64 slot. |
