MAKATI CITY, PHILIPPINES --- RONNIE "Calamba" Alcano defeated countryman Antonio "Ga-Ga" Gabica, 5-3, to win the first medal in billiard events, Sunday night in the individual 15-ball rotation division of the 23rd Southeast Asian Games here at the Makati Coliseum.
Alcano defeated Indon Ambuayporn Chotipong, 5-1, in the semi-finals to arrange an all Filipino finals with Gabica who outpointed Muhamad Junarto of Indonesia, 5-3.
"Again, I thanks God for the blessing, I mean for the gold medal," said Alcano to this writer after winning his final match.
The former AZ Billiards Rookie of the Year earlier defeated Chan Keng Kwang of Singapore, 5-1, and Filipino-Malaysian bet Ibrahim Bin Amir, 5-2, before reaching the final four.
"I'm so glad that I will face Ga-Ga (Gabica)in the finals," Alcano said to Gabica before they faced each other in the race-to-five championships round.
The Cebuano native Gabica on the other hand nippped Tepwin Arunnath of Thailand, 5-3, and Tran Quang Trung of Vietnam, 5-1, in order.
Ernesto Fajardo, president of Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) lauded the performance of our Filipino bets.
"I'm so glad that our two Filipino bets reached the finals. Congratulations to Ronnie and Gabica, at least we already finish gold and silver" added Fajardo.
"As I said earlier, we hope to attain our best performance especially since we are hosting the SEA Games." was the last word of Fajardo.
