A 34-year-old nurse from Brgy. San Miguel emerged as the champion in the first CLUB200 10-ball billiard tournament held at the CLUB200 Bar in Puerto Princesa City on Saturday night.
Aris Aragon, who works at the City Incident Management Team, beat Arnel Tejada 9-4 in the race to nine final matches in the A-B (advanced) category.
Aragon won the first two racks for an early lead, but Tejada took three straight racks for a 3-2 advantage before Aragon pocketed six straight racks to take an 8-3 commanding lead.
Tejada tried to make a comeback with a short-lived rally, winning the 12th rack and having the break on the 13th, but made a costly miscue, missing the 9-ball shot that paved the way for Aragon to win the series.
In the C-D (Beginners) category, Julian Vinluan held back Ergin Pasion for a 9-3 easy win, pocketing seven straight racks after dropping the first for a 7-1 advantage.
Pasion managed to win the next two before Vinluan took control and sealed the win.
Aragon and Vinluan each pocketed P10,000 in cash and gift certificates for the win, while Tejada bagged P5,000 and Pasion took home P3,000.
John Paul Tampioc placed 3rd, taking P5,000, and Gerald Maranan took P2,000 as the fourth placer in the A-B category
In the C-D category, 3rd placer Victor Cabillo took home P2,000, and 4th placer Efren Gonzaga won P1,000.
The other semifinalists won P100 each.
The two-day event was set up by President & CEO, Architect Eric Quirante of CLUB200 and EAQ Group of Companies, together with tournament organizers Mr. Art Cayanan and Francis Eleccion, according to tournament manager Alex Palatino. The goal of the event was to show off and find potential billiard players in Palawan.
He also said the tournament was abruptly organized, but he hopes to do better in the next events, adding that they were surprised with the number of participants.
There were a total of 28 players in A-B and 48 in C-D.
“This is just like testing the waters,” he said.
“The main purpose of this is, of course, that the organizer wants the players to show their skills, in order for them to be noticed,” he added.
The tournament was organized by CLUB200 in partnership with 3rd District Rep. Edward S. Hagedorn, Mayor Lucilo R. Bayron, Councilors Patrick Alex M. Hagedorn and Luis M. Marcaida III, EAQ Construction, Hotel Centro, Dampa sa Puerto, High Garden Hotel, Autobuddies, and E-Sports Palawan.
