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Topic: INDUSTRY NEWS - November 2009

WORLD TEN BALL: LINING, KIAMCO ADVANCE TO FINAL 16

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

MANILA, PHILIPPINES--- Filipinos Antonio “Nickoy” Lining and Warren “Warrior” Kiamco cruised into the round-of-16 of the on-going second World Ten Ball Championship.

The Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro native Lining stamped his class over Japanese Naoyuki Ooi, 9-7, while the Pasil, Cebu native Kiamco ousted former World 9-Ball champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, 9-5, in the round-of-32 match-up yesterday here at the World Trade Center.

Lining, who is fresh from a runner-up finish to eventual champion and countryman Francisco “Django” Bustamante in the Filipino dominated All Japan 9-Ball Championships event recently, will meet compatriot Jomar de Ocampo in the next round, who brought downed Anh Tuan Nguyen of Vietnam, 9-5, while Kiamco, who settled third in the Filipino dominated All Japan 9-Ball Championships event, will square off with reigning World 9-Ball champion Daryl Peach of Great Britain, winner over Satoshi Kawabata of Japan, 9-7.

Sharing the limelight is Butuan City pride Elvis Calasang, who nipped Filipino-Indonesian Alwi, 9-7, to face Ruslan Chinakhov, who dealt Jundel Mazon, 9-3, in the $60,000 first place event.

Meanwhile, another ex-World 9-ball ruler and back-to-back US open titlist Mika Immonen of Finland and Nick van den Berg of the Netherlands hurdle their respective assignment to face each other in the round-of-16.

Immonen, the world’s money top earner frustrate another hometown hopeful Marlon Manalo, 9-6, while van den berg walloped Jonni Fulcher of Great Britain, 9-4.

BATA, CORTEZA LED FILIPINO CHARGE IN WORLD MIXED DOUBLES CLASSIC BEGINS TODAY

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

MANILA, PHILIPPINES---FILIPINO billiards maestro Efren “Bata” Reyes and multiple Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza will seek to bring honor and glory for the Philippines when the much awaited 2009 World Mixed Doubles Classic gets underway today, Tuesday at the Nuvo City

Lifestyle Center C5 Corner Calle Industria, Libis in Quezon City.

Reyes, will be teamed up with Women’s World 10-ball champion Rubilen “Bingkay” Amit for the Team Philippines A while Corteza and Fil-Am beauty Shanelle Loraine will spearheaded for the Team Philippines B.

The event will feature six teams from different countries who will battle on the table in 10-Ball. ESPN Star Sports and ABS-CBN will be airing all 12 hours of the event live broadcasted throughout Asia and the Philippines. Dragon Promotions will be producing this fantastic new event with cooperation and support of Puyat Sports headed by Philippine God Father Aristeo "Putch" Puyat.

Other competing teams are Team USA headed by Shane Van Boeningand Amy Chen; Team Europe led by Mika Immonen and Borana Andoni; Team Japanof Hayato Hijikata and Kaori Ebe and Team Korea of Charlie Williams and Eun Ji Park.

IMMONEN REACH FINALS OF WORLD TEN BALL

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

MANILA, PHILIPPINES---FORMER World 9-ball champion Mika “The Iceman” Immonen has a won a place in the final of second World Ten Ball Championship.

The New York based Immonen, the reigning back-to-back US Open 9-ball titlist won two racks to edged Filipino Antonio “Nickoy” Lining, 9-7, in the first semi-final match-up yesterday at the World Trade Center.

“I feel happy,” said the frequent Manila visitor Immonen, who is already assured $30,000 purse for reaching the race-to-11 finals. The champion will receive $60,000, while the losing semi-finalist gets $15,000 each.

Immonen will face the winner of the match between Lee Vann Corteza of the Philippines and David Alcaide of Spain, who still playing as of press time for the last final berth.

On the road to the finals, Immonen defeated Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, 9-6, ( Last 64 ), Marlon Manalo, 9-6, of the Philippines ( Last 32 ), Nick van den Berg of the Netherlands, 9-7, ( Last 16 ), and Ruslan Chinakhov of Russia,9-6, ( Last 8 ), and Lining, 9-7, ( Last 4 ) while the Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro Lining disposed Corey Deuel of the USA, 9-4, ( Last 64 ), Naoyuki Ooi of Japan, 9-7, ( Last 32 ), Jomar de Ocampo, 9-2, of the Philippines( Last 16 ) and Warren Kiamco, 9-8, of the Philippines ( Last 8 ) before losing to Immonen, 9-7, ( Last 4 ).

UPC Nine-ball Championships 2009/10

The weekend of the 4-6 December 2009 sees forty-six teams and over 150 university nine-ball players arrive in Liverpool to battle it out for the Team and Individual Championships. This event has grown dramatically in the last six years, and to accommodate this growth the event will now be played in two fantastic Riley’s venues – Grand Central and Wavertree. With a further three teams competing compared with last season’s entry, the event continues to boast the title of the biggest annual nine-ball event in the UK.

“The move to Liverpool for this event is an exciting one. Both venues provide excellent conditions to host this event and we look forward to working with their enthusiastic management and teams to ensure this event is a continued success,” commented UPC Communications Director Dave Graham.

This event will continue to use the Championship/Trophy format with the bonus of a ‘second chance’ that double elimination offers.

University of Warwick dominated the event in 2008-2009 by winning the Team Championship and Trophy with 1st team player Matthew Bradley winning the Individual Championship. They will be vehemently trying to defend their silverware in Liverpool. They have proven to have a tremendous pedigree in this discipline by winning the Team Championships in three of the five years the event has been held.

Last year’s finalists Essex, strengthened ‘on paper’ by the addition of Sam Jeffrey (England U21 international at World Rules Eight-ball) will hope to go one better this year and Imperial, Bristol, Manchester Met and York come back with teams which they are hopeful are strong enough to challenge in the latter stages contested on Sunday. A dark horse in the draw will be London School of Economics, who will be anticipating building on the notable success of their pool club in their fledgling season in 2008-2009.

Matthew Bradley will be optimistic about becoming the first player to retain the Individual Championship but there is a large field of entrants with the intention of ending his dream! Names to look out for are Rich Wharton (Anglia Ruskin) who is aiming to become the first player to win both the UPC Eight-ball and Nine-ball individual titles, GB9ball Tour players Chun Hao Man (Manchester Met) and Kevin Lau (Huddersfield) with Mike Walsh, Luke Fleet (both York), James Hill and Jay Murphy (both Warwick) all expected to do well. The entry of several new and restructured teams means that there could well be a few unknown quantities in the draw.

The action gets underway with the Individual Championship at 10h15 on Friday 4th December. The Team Championship/Trophy begins at 14h45 on the same day with the Individual Championship Semi-finals and Final from 20h00 on Saturday 5th December.

The Team Championship resumes at 9h30 on Sunday 6th December. Both the Championship and Trophy will culminate in the afternoon with the Championship Semis and Final and Trophy Final from around 13h45.

Notes:
The Universities Pool Council (UPC) is the governing body for pool at higher education level in the United Kingdom. It is recognised by the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS), Scottish University Sport (SUS) and the English Pool Association (EPA).

The UPC organises national nine-ball, eight-ball and women’s eight-ball championships for teams and individuals. The UPC also organises the Student Home Internationals representative event.

www.upc-pool.org.uk