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Prize money vanishes in Pacquiao 10 ball events, and a word on fitness in pool

A bird's eye view of the MP Cup World 10 Ball Championship. (Photo by Bob Guerrero)
A bird's eye view of the MP Cup World 10 Ball Championship. (Photo by Bob Guerrero)

There is trouble brewing in General Santos City as tens of thousands of dollars of prize money has mysteriously gone missing in the two pool events organized by Manny Pacquiao, the MP Cup World 10 Ball Championship and the Manny Pacquiao Cup International 10 Ball Doubles Tournament.

It is reported that the players in the world title event, who received their money in US dollars in brown envelopes after Taiwan's Ko Pin Yi won the crown last Saturday in SM City Gensan, have had five percent of their winnings docked.

In this report from AZBilliards.com's ' Jerry Forsythe, players were allegedly charged for the US$200 sanction fee of the World Pool-Billiard Association twice, once when they paid their entry fee into the tournament then once again when they found an amount deducted from their envelopes.

In previous sanctioned world championships the WPA collects the sanction and does not charge nor deduct from the players anything afterwards. The organizers only collect the entry fees of the qualifiers before the main tournament itself.

Then there were more questions in the doubles event that began on Sunday. The players, who paid their US$150 entry fee on Saturday night, were surprised to learn that the guaranteed prize money of US$100,000 had been arbitrarily reduced to just US$60,000. This despite the fact that the guarantee was in writing in the event details sent to the media before the match. It is also mentioned in the MP Cup FB page.

It has been reported that out of 54 confirmed teams, less than half have taken part.

These events have led to some players voicing out their anger on Facebook and at least one foreign player saying he will bring the matter up personally with Pacquiao.

The events are being run by the head organizer Lorelei Pacquiao, wife of Bobby Pacquiao, Manny's brother.


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From my observations over the week, it is apparent to me that the Philippines still has plenty of young and up-and coming talent. Johann Chua, a beaten quarterfinalist, is a terrific player with a great attitude who will go very far in this game. Chua has already finished runner-up in the prestigious all-Japan Championship twice.

Everybody is marveling about Anthony Raga's potential. Mapandi Baseth went toe-to-toe against Yang Ching Shun before falling in the final rack because of a bizarre time foul.

Carlo Biado, with his runner-up finish, is now the world's number one player according to the WPA's ranking system.

With Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante in the November December of their careers, we have plenty of depth to back up current stars like Dennis Orcollo, Warren Kiamco, and Lee Vann Corteza, who are all still in their prime.

But the loss of Biado in the final brings up a troubling issue: if we are so good at pool, why do we lose so many world championship finals and US Open finals? (I consider the US Open equal in prestige to a world title.) Lets take a look at the numbers.

Reyes is 2-1 in world finals but 1-2 in US Opens. Reyes lost a world straight pool final to John Schmidt. Bustamante is 1-2 in world finals including a loss to Niels Feijen in a straight pool final. Ronnie Alcano has been in the most finals of these events, winning titles in 9 ball and 8 ball. He has, however, lost an 8 ball final to Ralf Souquet and a nine ball final to Yukio Akagariyama. He has also lost two US Open finals.

Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, the home of the US Open, has been tough on Pinoys. Not only has Efren lost two finals there, but Dennis Orcollo has also lost twice in the championship match there, as have Amang Parica and Alcano. Rodolfo Luat also lost his only US Open final appearance.

Dennis has lost one world 8 ball final (to Alcano) and won another. Marlon Manalo lost his only world 8 ball final to Reyes.

Alex Pagulayan has won the US Open and the world 9 Ball title. He has also lost finals of both events.

Roberto Gomez, Antonio Gabica, and now Carlo Biado have each lost the only world final they have played in.

Therefore we have this:

Reyes 3-2
Bustamante 1-2
Alcano 2-4
Orcollo 1-3
Parica 0-2
Luat 0-1
Gomez 0-1
Gabica 0-1
Biado 0-1
Manalo 0-1
Pagulayan 2-2

Overall score : 9 – 20. Yes, the Philippines is just 31% in major finals. For me that is statistically significant. That shows that we have a lot of excellent players, but at the very very deep end of tournaments, we often falter. And I think I know one reason why.

Filipino pool players are money players, first and foremost. (Tournaments are less frequent occurrences.) They have superb knowledge and skill. But most do not live the athlete's lifestyle.

Jeff De Luna, judging by those biceps, does spend time in the gym. Dennis Orcollo is known to jog and play basketball regularly. But I am not sure about the others. One Pinoy pool player told me in GenSan that he exercised by walking around the small hotel parking lot fifteen times.

In contrast, many European and American players are fitness freaks. Mika Immonen, Thorsten Hohmann and Rodney Morris are gym rats. Niels Feijen looks extremely fit. Ralf Souquet does yoga. Ko Pin Yi the eventual champ was on the treadmill on the eve of his world title triumph.

Pool may not be a strenuous sport, but in the business end of a long tournament, fitness matters, since physical fitness and mental sharnpness tend to be joined a the hip. If your body gets weary, your mind will surely follow.

Biado is quoted in the official WPA match report as saying that in last Saturday's final, he felt tired after having to play a quarterfinal, semi, and final in one day, all races to eleven.

Nowhere is the need for fitness more important than in the US Open 9 Ball, where players play matches all day and into the night, for days on end. No wonder the Philippines is 2-9 in the finals of that event.

Perhaps if our players kept themselves fitter, watched what they ate, and tried to stay off the late night drinking and poker sessions a bit especially during tournaments, we wouldn't just be one of the best pool nations, but we would clearly be the best.

Of course Pinoy players do seem to do well in all-night sessions in challenge matches, so that is one easy way to debunk this theory. But I still think that our players should take their being athletes a little more seriously.

Pinoy players do well because of the wealth of collective knowledge in our country, their tremendous skill, and the high quality of challenge matches that are available here to push players to improve. With that extra bit of fitness, we could be dominant.

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.