The chairman of the Billiards & Snooker Congress of the Philippines and Billiards Digest “Man of the Year” Yen Makabenta is planning a big four-nation team event in pool to be hosted by Manila sometime around July to September.
Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today learned that the four team tournament would feature the top four pool playing nations – Germany, the US, Chinese-Taipei and the Philippines.
The idea is to pit the top countries in the world against each other which would hopefully lead to a type of pool Olympiad.
Makabenta whose Raya Sports staged the highly successful 2006 World Pool Championships at the Philippine International Convention Center in cooperation with ESPN and several major sponsors bannered by the Department of Tourism which also drew commendations for its support of such a prestigious international event indicated he “wants to test it here in Manila first” and revealed that there were a couple of interested sponsors.
The success of the WPC was heightened by the dramatic victory of lanky Ronnie Alcano who defeated German ace Ralf Souquet in the finals before a wildly cheering hometown crowd and millions more watching on television.
The plan tentatively calls for staging the four-nation showdown sometime before the 2007 World Pool Championship which returns to Manila from November 3-11.
