Manalo, 2 others
vie in Taipei tilt

By CHRISTINE MONCADA

MARLON Manalo, Antonio Gabica and Jeff de Luna are leaving today to participate in the first leg of the 2008 Guinness 9-Ball Tour set Feb. 29 to March 3 in Taipei after the Billiards and Snookers Congress of the Philippines secured a last-minute endorsement from the Games and Amusements Board yesterday for the three pool players.

"We just followed the procedure of the GAB, we did everything they required us to do kaya pinayagan na makaalis ng bansa at makasali ang mga players natin sa Guinness tournament," BSCP president Ernesto Fajardo told Malaya in a phone interview.

The GAB required for all professional pool athletes to secure an approval for travel and permission to compete before joining international competitions.

GAB Chairman Eric Buhain’s decision to allow the three to compete in the Guinness tourney came on the heels of a protest filed before the professional sports regulatory agency by group of pro players under the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines.

The group, led by double world champion Ronnie Alcano, Dennis Orcollo and Roberto Gomez, batted for a qualifying tournament for the three slots instead of the BSCP selecting the country’s representative just like other countries have been doing.

They noted that even defending overall champion Chang Jun-Ling was not included in the Chinese- Taipei team after he lost in the qualifying.

The BMPAP, however, abided by Buhain’s wishes and opted to let this incident slide.

"Chairman Buhain called us and asked us to give in just this once. He said that the BSCP appealed for it dahil masyado na daw gipit sa oras kung magkakaroon pa ng qualifying," related BMPAP prime mover Perry Mariano.

"Pero hindi na kami papayag na walang qualifying tournament para sa mga susunod na legs ng Guinness," Mariano stressed.

Aside from Manalo, Gabica and De Luna, the Philippines will be represented by former world champion Alex Pagulayan and Joven Bustamante, who were picked by the organizers with Pagulayan named as ambassador of the six-leg Asian series.