Current Panamerican Champion Alan Rolon will not be making the trip to Rosario, Argentina to defend the title he has won for 2 consecutive years. Although the Panamerican Billiard Conference (Confederacion Panamericana de Billar) was willing to pay the trip for his defense, Alan could not find a comfortable schedule to fly to Argentina.
His trip would have started on July 10th from Puerto Rico, with a layover in Venezuela of 14 hours and then flying to Argentina through Bolivia, another 12 hours after departure from Venezuela. He would have been arriving late afternoon or at night (more than 26 hours after departure from Puerto Rico) without enough time to rest and recoup from jet-lag before opening the tournament with his first match on July 12th.
We perfectly understand that under these conditions, it would have been detrimental to present himself at such an important event and compete against the best players of Latin America and the Caribbean without being in top form.
The Panamerican Championship is a qualifier for the World Pool Championships that will be held this year in the Phillipines. Fifteen (15) countries will be participating to earn 5 spots to the World 9 Ball Championships. Participating countries are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guadaloupe, Guatemala, Mexico, Netherland Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Argentina Billiard Federation will be hosting and providing prize money to the Panamerican 9 Ball Championship.
We wish all participants success in earning their spots and obtaining due representation to the most prestigious 9 Ball Championship of the World!
