PRESS CONFERENCE. Mayor Edgardo Labella (third from right) briefly joins the "Sargo sa Cebu City" Open 10-ball billiards tournament press conference on Thursday (Oct. 3, 2019). With him are (from left) national player Warren Kyamco, Bob Maclelan of Scotland, tilt organizer Elman Sacayanan, Hideki Saito of Japan, and Indonesia Open third runner-up Husley Jusayan. (Photo by Luel Galarpe)
CEBU CITY -- The "Sargo sa Cebu City" Open 10-ball billiards tournament unfurled on Thursday featuring some of the top players in the country today.
Leading the list of participants are 2017 World Pool champion Carlo Biado, 2015 Manny Pacquiao (MP) 10-ball champion Jericho Bañares, Southeast Asian Games player Warren Kyamco, China Open first runner-up Anton Raga, and Indonesia Open third runner-up Hushley Jusayan.
The tournament, presented by the Manny Pacquiao Promotions together with Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, is a double knockout format and will run from October 3 to 8 at Robinsons Galleria here.
Tournament organizer Elman "Aries" Sacayanan said more than 60 players, including at least four cue artists from the United States, Scotland, and Japan, are seeing action in the six-day competition.
Among the foreign participants in the tournament are Bob Maclenan of Scotland and Hideki Saito of Japan.
Sacayanan said the emerging champion in the tourney will bring home PHP300,000, while the second placer will receive PHP200,000.
He said the third and fourth placers will get PHP80,000 each; fifth to eighth will receive PHP30,000 apiece, ninth to 16th PHP10,000 each, and 17th to 32nd will bring home PHP5,000 each.
Mayor Labella, who dropped by to briefly join the press conference before the games, said he decided to collaborate with Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao in organizing the tournament because billiards is one of the sports where the Philippines can produce world champions.
"We Filipinos are basketball fanatics, but we have to admit the fact that we can never compete with the big players from other countries. In billiards and boxing, we can produce world champions," the mayor said.
The tournament is held for the benefit of the Manny Pacquiao Foundation, which aims to uplift the lives of the grassroots community and spread hope around the world through building homes, hospitals, and schools, as well as providing scholarships and disaster relief to victims of calamities. (PNA)
