AMERICAN Shane Van Boening and the rest of the world’s elite billiards players are preparing to invade General Santos City and add prestige to the rich 2014 Philippine Open 10-Ball Championship slated on Dec. 8 to 16 at the SM City.
Van Boening, the 31-year-old, three-time and current US Open Champion (2012, 2013, 2014), leads the march of the huge foreign field in this rich event offering a $150,000 in prizes bankrolled by boxing champion and billiards expert Manny Pacquiao.
The event coincides with Pacquiao’s 36th birthday celebration and every local Filipino billiards player is expected to repulse the challenge of the likes of Thorsten Hohmann, Mika Immonen, Rodney Morris, John Morra and Asia’s equally dangerous pool sharks.
Van Boening has confirmed his entry to the singles event offering a $50,000 champion’s purse. The singles event will commence on Dec. 8 to 11 while the doubles event will run from Dec. 12 to 16 with a huge $100,000 top prize awaiting the winner. Van Boening will team up with Filipino Dennis Orcullo in the doubles event.
The solid tandem of Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante, both legends of the sport, will team up in the doubles and also play in the singles event along with Warren Kiamko, Edgie Geronimo, Lee Van Corteza and Jundel Mazon, among others. A pair of 14-yearold youngsters from nearby Surigao and Zamboanga, who recently made waves in last month’s tournament coinciding with General Santos’s Tuna Festival, will be a pair to watch out for.
Five other doubles teams from Taiwan have signified their intention to compete led by legendary Chao Fong Fang and Yang Cheng Chun along with dark horses from Canada, Finland, Japan, Indonesia, China, Singapore and Brunei, among many others still about to confirm. (Philboxing.com)
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