BILLIARDS GAINING GROUND ONCE AGAIN
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 24 Aug 2015
Biado.
Don't look now, but Filipino cue artists seem to be slowly but surely regaining their status and respect from the international billiards and snooker community.
Diminutive Carlo Biado, for instance, has earlier, this year catapulted himself to the top of the World Billiards Association ranking, an honor bolstered by his ruling last month of the 28th Japan Open.
Even in the junior ranks the young Filipino campaigners have been showing the way to their counterparts all over the world, not only in the Asian but world-level plays with up-and-coming Jeffrey Roda and Basil Alshaijar fashioning out a remarkable 1-2 Philippine finish in last month's Asian Junior Championship held in Taipei.
Inspired by these Filipino display of supremacy on the clothed table, the Billiards Sports Confederation of the Philippines has decided in embarking an ambitious program aimed at continuing the gains so far achieved by local cue aces in their bid bid to be on top of the billiards world once again.
"Yes, we in the BSCP, in fact, has decided to come up with the First National Juniors 9-Ball Championship in an effort to regain our status as one of the top billiards-playing naion in the world," BSCP president Arturo "Bong" Ilagan, disclosed in a chance interview last Saturday in his office at the Philippine Sports Commission Medical Center building inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
The tournament is a two-weekend affair starting this coming Friday at the RMSC billiards and snooker center located at the 2nd floor of the PSC Medical Center, according to Ilagan.
"We have invited the country's finest junior players through the local government units. Meron na ngang mga dumating at naka-billet sa north and south wings of the rack-football stadium courtesy of PSC," Ilagan said.
"The successes Carlo (Biado) and our junior players have been enjoying in the international field, without fan fair at that, proved once more in cue sports are events Filiinos are really for Filipinos," Ilagan, a former Project: Gintong Alay executibef director, noted.
The competition spread until September 6, also serves as the basis for ranking local junior players. The top three players will qualify to the World Juniors Championships this coming November in Singapore where Roda has already made it for topping the last tournament.
Ilagan was particularly excited in the performances of products of BSCP's youth development program, particularly those of Roda, lshaijar, Chezka Centeno, Denise Santos and, urprisingly, snooker hopeful Floriza Andal.
"Biado climbing to the top spot of WBA ranking eh hindi masyadong katakataka, kasi exposed naman siya sa big time international competitions. (Biado also teamed up with Warren Kiamco to win for the country the 9-Ball doubles gold medal in the last Southeast Asian Games).
Roda and Alshaijar, on the other hand, not only swept the top two places in the Taipei Asian soujorn, they also won the doubles event. Not to be outone, Santos, likewise, came home with a bronze in a Pakistan tournament early this month.
"Ang nakakatuwa si Andal, who brought home a bronze medal for in snooker event in the International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Red-6 Snooker, first for the country," Ilagan said widely grinning. "Ibig sabihin, hindi lang sa bilyar tayo ma pagasa, sa snooker din."
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