WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS STARTS TOMORROW

THREE-WORLD CHAMPIONS BANNERS RP BID IN WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS TOMORROW

MANILA, PHILIPPINES---THE 2007 World Pool Championships gets underway tomorrow, November 3, Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City with 128 of the world's leading players from 42 countries competing for a winner's purse valued at $100,000, the biggest prize yet in the 18-year tournament which will be aired on ESPN Star Sports and ABS-CBN 2.

The cuefest offers $40,000 to the runner-up, $20,000 to the third placer and $10,000 to the fourth placer.

The last 16 players will each receive $4,500 while the last 32 will go home with $3,000 and the last 64 with $2,000 apiece.

Defending champion and tournament top seed Ronato Alcano, the 35-year-old lanky cue from Calamba, Laguna, said he expects a grueling competition. "To keep this title will be very difficult," he said.

Alcano who is fresh from a runner-up finish with eventual US Open champion American Shane Van Boening will meet his first round assignment against little known H. Saeed Ahmed Al-Mutawa of United Arab Emirates in Group 1.

"There is tremendous pressure because of the strong Taiwanese contingent," said Alcano, who tagged a moniker "Volcano" when he beat 1995 World 9-Ball Champion Ralf "Kaiser" Souquet in the last year's finals at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. Souquet, the No.2 seed takes on Qualifier 6 Leonardo Andam. The German ace trounced Andam in the opening round last year, 4-8.

No.8 pick Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan, who beat Taiwanese Chang Pei Wei in the 2004 World 9-Ball crown said in a recent interview, "I just play my very best." The 29-year-old Cabagan, Isabela native will meet H. Hamsa Mohammed Saeed Ali of Iran on Sunday in Group 8.

Sixth seed Pool Maestro Efren "Bata" Reyes, the 1999 World 9-Ball Champion in Cardiff, Wales added, "This is going to be a tough tournament. I also expect a strong showing from the Europeans and Americans aside from the Taiwanese," added Reyes.

Reyes, known as the "the Magician" for his table tricks, bowed to Alcano in the last year's edition, will face Qualifier 2 Kenichi Ichigaki of Japan, tomorrow, Saturday in Group 6.

Joining the triumvirate in the main draw were 2002 Cardiff World 9-ball runner-up Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Lee Vann Corteza, Dennis Orcollo, Marlon Manalo, Antonio Lining, Ramil Gallego, Rodolfo Luat, Joven Bustamante, Jeffrey de Luna, Antonio Gabica and qualifiers Leonardo Andam and Roberto Gomez.

Meanwhile, WPC 2005 champion Wu Chia Ching of Chinese Taipei is third seed, and his compatriot Yang Ching-Shun is No. 4 pick.

Other seeded players are Germany's Thorsten Hohmann (fifth), Chinese Taipei's Chang Jung-Lin (seventh), Germany's Thomas Engert (10th), Russia's Konstantin Stepanov (11th), Finland's Mika Immonen (12th), USA's newly-crowned US 9-Ball Open champion Shane Van Boening (13th), China's Li He-wen (14th), USA's Johnny Archer (15th), Holland's Niels Feijen (16th), England's Daryl Peach (17th), Chinese Taipei's Chao Fong-Pang (18th), Italy's Fabio Petroni (19th), USA's Rodney Morris (22nd), England's Imran Majid (23rd), USA's Corey Deuel (24th), Spain's David Alcaide (25th), Malta's Tony Drago (27th), Chinese Taipei's Fu Che-Wei (28th), Scotland's Jonni Fulcher (29th), Vietnam's Luong Chi Dung (30th), Canada's Ronnie Wiseman (31st) and Indonesia's Ricky Yang (32nd).

(Report from MARLON BERNARDINO)