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A total of 19 Filipinos made it to the 128-man main draw of the prestigious World Ten Ball Championship (WTBC) which starts today at the World Trade Center in Manila.
Former double world champion (WPA 9-ball and 8-ball) Ronato ?Volcano? Alcano and reigning International Predator 10-ball champion Dennis ?Robocop? Orcollo will spearhead the Filipinos? campaign in the tournament which awards $60,000 to the champion.
?Masayang-masaya ako at nakasali ulit tayo, I hope Filipino ang manalo dito sa WTBC,? said the Bislig, Surigao del Sur-native Orcollo during yesterday?s press conference at the Heritage Hotel in Manila.
Other seeded Filipino bets in the week-long tournament are Marlon Manalo, Lee Vann Corteza, Warren Kiamco, Demosthenes ?Plong-Plong? Pulpul, Antonio Gabica, Jeffrey De Luna, Jerico Banares, Carlo Biado and Allan Cuartero.
They will be joined in the main draw by qualifiers Ramil ?Bebeng? Gallego, Michael Feliciano, Roberto Gomez, Jundel Mazon, Emil Martinez, Antonio Lining, Steve Villamil and Jomar de Ocampo.
Meanwhile, Raya Sports chairman and BSCP head Florentino ?Yen? Makabenta and BMPAP founding chair Ceferino ?Perry? Mariano mended broken bridges yesterday in front of other local billiards officials, guests, players and the media as a sign of unity for the billiard industry.
It shall be recalled that the BMPAP group led by Mariano, Jonathan Sy and Putch Puyat boycotted the staging of the inaugural WTBC last year which was won by Great Britain?s Darren Appleton.
Mariano, the owner of Bugsy Promotions and Sy, the head of the rising Negros Billiard Stable, however, decided to participate this year. But the star-studded Puyat Sports stable failed to send its best players for various reasons.
The Puyat stable also includes Hall of Famer Efren ?Bata? Reyes, Francisco ?Django? Bustamante and reigning Women?s World Ten Ball champion Rubilen ?Bingkay? Amit.
?All our top guns are competing, so there?s a good chance that we?re going to have another Filipino world champion,? Makabenta declared.
