Cue artists tumumbok ng 3 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze medals

PALEMBANG, Indo­ne­sia – tatlong gintong me­dalya ang naging kontribusyon ng national billiards and snooker team mula sa 26th Southeast Asian Ga­mes dito.

Ang dalawang gold me­dal ay nanggaling kay Iris Ranola, habang ang ikat­lo ay galing kay Dennis Or­collo.

Si Ranola ang nagreyna sa 8-ball at 9-ball event singles sa women’s division, samantalang si Orcol­lo ang naghari sa men’s 9-ball.

Ang tatlong gold medal ang siyang dumuplika sa na­kolekta ng bansa noong 2009 SEA Games sa Laos.

Ang kababayang si Ru­blien Amit ang nagdomina sa women’s 8-ball at 9-ball singles sa nakaraang SEA Ga­mes.

Maliban sa tatlong gintong medalya nina Ranola at Orcollo, tumumbok rin ang koponan ng dalawang pi­lak at tatlong tanso.

“It is the best performance by far by the billiards/snooker team despite some other good cue artists in the region showing up here,” wika ni billiards asso­ciation secretary-general Ro­bert Mananquil.

Ang dalawang silver me­dals ay nanggaling kina Amit (9-ball singles) at Fran­cis­co dela Cruz (carom 1-cushion), habang ang tat­­long bronze medals ay nag­mula kina Reynaldo Gran­dea at Efren ‘Bata’ Re­yes.

Pumangatlo rin si Re­yes sa carom 1-cushion.

Nasibak naman si Fran­cis­co 'Django' Bustamante kay Ricky Yang, 3-8, sa se­mifinal round ng 8-ball singles.

Tumapos ang Thailand na may 2 gold, 2 silver at 1 bron­ze medal kasunod ang Vietnam (2-1-5), Indonesia (1-3-2), Singapore (1-1-3), Malaysia (1-0-3), 2013 host Myanmar (0-1-4) at Brunei (0-0-0).

 "We look forward to the 27th SEA Games in Myan­mar and would strive to maintain the three gold me­dals in pool with the goal of making it four," sabi pa ni Ma­nanquil. "We congratulate our athletes who did their best and surpassed the association’s expectations."