The World Pool Championships. Held here in Manila and of the tournament’s nine days IÂ was there for four. It was a blast. I was there the first day and the by the first glimpse of the whole setup it was pool nirvana. 128 of the world’s best players, 21 of which are from the Philippines, 1 main television table, 1 secondary television table, 4 more (un-televised) match tables and 4 practice tables. Even from the the organizers point of view, the PICC Convention Center was made as if it was meant for this event. I was also there on the third (Monday), fourth and sixth day.
Today it was the semi-finals and although the heavily favored and favorited Efren Reyes did not make it to this point, a Filipino by the name of Ronnie Alcano has entered the finals! I’m sure you pool fans are familiar with him and for those who are not, he has been campaigning under the shadows of Bata and Django for a couple of years now and has also won Rookie of the Year in 2003. He was also the one who eliminated Efren earlier in the tournament. This is also a special treat for me since I’m known by my pool friends to have always been a follower of Ronnie’s game. He will battle Ralf Souquet of Germany tomorrow at 2 p.m.
[...] A week’s excuse not to blog – Version 2 [...]