RONATO "Volcano" Alcano missed a chance to make history. No thanks to a streaking opponent and suspicious racking by the hometown referees. Shane Van Boening took the measure of Alcano for the second time in two days, 13-10, and bagged the 32nd US Open crown Saturday night at the Chesapeake Convention Center in Chesapeake, Virginia.
The loss prevented the 34-year-old lanky cue Alcano from becoming the first player to reign supreme in the World Pool Championship, World 8-Ball Championship and US Open at the same time.
The 24-year-old Van Boening, fondly called "South Dakota Kid" in pool world who sent Alcano to the loser's bracket Friday, grabbed $50,000 and a spot on Team USA in the Mosconi Cup. Alcano settled for $25,000.
The two are expected to meet again and play key roles for their respective teams in the Kabayan World 9-Ball Challenge: Philippines vs. Rest of the World on Nov. 12-13 in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.
"It's very disappointing," said Alcano in Filipino during a telephone conversation with Bugsy Promotions manager Perry Mariano. "It's a rare opportunity to win the three biggest titles in pool in a span of one year."
He had his chances.
Ahead by two after eight racks, 5-3, and the momentum clearly on his side with four straight rack wins, Alcano playing under the banner of Bugsy Promotions sued for time. Bad timing? Perhaps a perfect time for somebody else to plot a crime.
After taking the breather, Alcano never holed a ball on his break again. Six times to be exact. "I've been breaking well the whole tournament and early in the game. I don't know why I suddenly ran out of luck on my break," Alcano narrated.
Somewhere along the way, Alcano requested for a change of referee. Request granted but the spell continued.
Nothing out of the ordinary, but it's not very often to see a player of Alcano's caliber hit a dry break six straight times.
Mariano is trying to ignore the suspicions. "I hope it was just plain bad luck on the part of Ronnie for the benefit of sport," he said.
Alcano was untouchable heading to the finals, routing his three opponents in the loser's bracket to set up a rematch with Van Boening. He beat Louis Ulrich, 11-3, Ralf Souquet, 11-3 and Tomoki Mikari, 11-5.
Rumors of conspiracy to doom the chances of Filipino players started to circulate even before the tournament started.
Six marquee players from the country were bunched on the same group namely Efren "Bata" Reyes, Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Jose "Amang" Parica, Lee Vann Corteza, Warren Kiamco and Alcano. The three other groups had no more than two Filipino players.
"Our chances got slimmer as the tournament went along because our players kept on eliminating each other," said veteran cue artist and Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) founding president Edgar "Malabon" Acaba. (
CAGOL EYES PACMAN 9-BALL
UNHERLADED Armando "Agila" Cagol will compete in the 1st Manny Pacquiao International 9-Ball Open on Oct. 24-27 at the Hobbies of Asia Building in Pasay City.
The 28-year-old from Caloocan City will be out to challenge world renowned players like Efren "Bata" Reyes and Francisco "Django" Bustamante in the tournament that offers P1-M to the champion and P500,000 to the runner-up.
Cagol, managed by Japan Tour stalwart Roel Esquillo, is a finalist in the Eat Bulaga 9-Ball Rumble. He also did well in the 2007 SMC-BSCP Ranking Tour.
"Maganda sana ang maging performance ko sa Manny Pacquiao International," said Cagol. "Magandang preparation din ito para sa qualifying ng World Pool Championship at Japan International Open."
Solar Sports, the leading sports channel in the country, will air the tournament sponsored by the boxing idol himself – Manny Pacquiao.
Cagol is one of the familiar faces in One-Side Billiards Hall, home of the toughest money game players in the country.
DAVID BEATS MANALO IN POOL SHOWDOWN
RENEMAR "Revo" David, the rising 18-yr. Old billiard phenom ousted Marlon "Marvelous" Manalo in the hot seat as King-of-the-Table in Pool Showdown match of the week held Saturday night at the Rizal Memorial Billiards Center.
David one of the country's representative in the World Junior Championship in Willingen, Germany this coming November 26-30 connected 5 wins enabling 8-4 lead after 12th racks.
But the 2006 Sydney WJC quarter finalist dry break in the 13th frame gave Manalo a chance to level the score 9-9 including four straight wins in the 15th to 18th frame in their race-to-11 9-ball winner's break format.
Even though the 31-yr old Manalo got back in the game, he's still anguished with his breaks and looses his concentrations due to several dry breaks.
Manalo missed ball 5 in the 19th rack prompted David to grab again the lead including an 8-9 combination in the 20th frame to wrap up the game 11-9.
The Mandaluyong native and 2nd BSCP National Pool Championship 1st runner-up Manalo won the lag but the point goes to David after he missed ball no.4 from a bad preparation.
"Suwerte lang medyo nakauna ng bahagya kaya napagod si kuya Marlon (Manalo) humabol tapos mas marami siyang dry breaks kesa sa akin, magandang prepartion ito sa WPC siyempre kasama rin ang qualifying tournament para sa WPC."masayang sambit ni David.
David replaces Manalo as "Hari ng Mesa" received $1,800 for winning the ring game and the match of the week in the event supported by Sporteum Inc. (ACCEL) president Wilfredo Ortiz as official outfitter of the players.
Pool Showdown is a joint production of Raya Sports and ABC-5. It is broadcast every Tuesday and Saturday at 8:00-10:30 in the evening.
(Repoorts from MARLON BERNARDINO)
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