Marlon Manalo

Marlon Manalo THE six-member Philippine team which will compete in the first-ever World Team Championship in Hanover, Germany, from Jan. 30 to Feb. 7 will play in a tough, point-system tournament patterned after the famous Davis Cup in international tennis.
But that doesn’t mean the squad won’t be installed as among the favorites in the 45-nation field.
Edgar Acaba, the designated RP pool team manager, explained why.
“Our team will be composed of six crack players, who have played impressively in the World Ten Ball Championship, the Philippine National Championship and other international tournaments. I see our team being installed among the Top 10 favored teams in the tournament,” said Acaba, vice president of the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines.
“Germany, England, the United States, Japan, Chinese Taipei and China are touted as the favorites, but the teams of Mika Immonen [Finland], Marcus Chamat [Sweden] and Neils Feijen [Netherlands] may not get the support they need to make their teams more formidable,” he added.
Teams will compete in three disciplines—the 8-Ball, 9-Ball and 10-Ball. The 8-Ball will be played in a Double Scotch format and bears two points for every team. The 9-Ball and 10-Ball will have a point each.  
The Philippine team will be composed of two-time national pool titlist Lee Van Corteza, two-time world pool champion Ronnie Alcano, former world no. 1 Dennis Orcullo, former Asian Snooker champion Marlon Manalo and veteran campaigners Warren Kiamco and Antonio Lining.
Corteza fell short of becoming the Philippines’ fourth world champion after losing to Immonen in the finals of the second World Ten Ball Championship. The pride of Jonathan Sy’s stable is fresh from winning the Philippine National Championship this month. He is currently the highest-rated Filipino player (ranked no. 4 in the world).
Alcano and Orcullo are two of the best bets of Bugsy’s Promotions of Perry Mariano.
Manalo recently climbed his way to the Top 10 of the WPA rankings, while Kiamco and Lining also had a good run in the latter stretch of the year.