Billiards group takes up cudgels for floundering sport in 2008

Despite leadership dispute, RP billiards produced another remarkable season in the year about to end.

Citing incompetence of the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) leadership, a group of managers and an overwhelming majority of the country’s top players formed the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP).

This paved the way for the staging of a number of tournaments in the country, giving the players, from the established stars to aspiring ones, bigger opportunities.

Sen. Manny Villar, in his continuing effort to help the sport he believes Filipinos will excel in, put up five Villar Cup tournaments held in Alabang, Cebu, Bulacan, Davao and Bacolod.

Villar also supported the country’s top players’ stints in the international arena.

In return, the Filipino billiards community acknowledged Villar as the sport’s new godfather, and honored him by turning “billiards” into “Villards.”

That includes Dennis Orcollo, who ruled the $100,000 Qatar International 9-Ball Open and the All-Japan Open. The reigning world No.1, who topped the First Quezon City 9-ball Championship in March, also won the Guangzhou leg of the Guinness 9-Ball Tour, making him the most successful Filipino player of 2008.

Other top players who had strong showings in the international front were Alex Pagulayan, who won the World Pool Masters and the Guinness Tour’s Singapore leg, Francisco “Django” Bustamante who reigned in Master of the Table in the Derby City Classic; and Ronnie Alcano, who had runner-up finishes in the World 8-Ball Championship, US Open and Japan Open.

Pool legend Efren “Bata” Reyes continues to defy father-time, and despite a recurring shoulder injury still managed to come up with strong performances in tournaments he joined.

The BMPAP also had a yearlong program aimed at discovering new stars in the Search for the New Billiards Idol. The series has had 15 legs, including provincial stops in Davao and Bacolod, and a Grand Finals won by 19-year-old Fil-Japanese Mike Takayama.

The World Pool Championship, which the country hosted in the two previous years, was shelved, but in lieu of it, the Philippines staged the Quezon City-Philippines vs the World Grand Villards Showdown, where eight top Filipino cue artists – Reyes, Bustamante, Orcollo, Pagulayan, Alcano, Roberto Gomez, Lee Van Corteza and Warren Kiamco – joined forces to take on a challenge hurled by a selection of topnotch international stars.

The event lived up to its billing as the most thrilling, as it went the distance with Team World edging out the home squad, 9-8, to claim the bragging rights and the $40,000 purse.

Meanwhile, RP billiards is looking forward for another fruitful year with the much-awaited National Billiards League and the Villar Cup to expand plus a number of international events.