Previous Story
8-ball returns to Round Two
|
Posted on Jun 04 2005
Round Two’s Thursday 8-ball invitational tournament returned with modest success last Thursday with newcomer Jeff Robinson capturing the championship of the revived weekday classic.
Robinson battled back from a first round loss to pool ace Jerry Soriano by winning six straight matches, which included taking two games away from winners’ bracket topnotcher Erwin Gomez in the championship round.
After starting off on the wrong foot with the loss to Soriano, Robinson played like a wounded tiger and defeated Ron Shishato, Gene Sablan, and Boyet Sequico in quick succession.
Ranged against losing semifinalist Roque Santos in the losers’ bracket finals, Robinson kept his winning streak alive and barged into the finals where Gomez was waiting.
Robinson put win No. 5 in the books by beating Santos in the first game and making it a one-game affair for all the marbles. He then rang the bell again in the winner-take-all second game to complete his comeback.
The win was worth $40 for Robinson, while Gomez took home $25 and Santos $15. A total of only eight players showed up to play in the resuscitated event, including Vince Tudela.
The billiards competition at the Garapan watering hole used to be one of the most popular pool tournaments on island but has suffered through poor attendance soon after Round Two’s original owner Don Pangelinan and his wife left for the U.S. mainland.
New owners Don and Nenita Bufton said they are happy to bring back the weeknight classic and hope the still no-sponsor billiards tournament would return to the prominence it once enjoyed.
Nenita Bufton said she and her husband are still in negotiations with a Saipan beverage company to sponsor the tournament and said if talks bear fruit, the event will adopt the name of products being sold by the sponsor.
Entry fee for the invitational 8-ball tournament is $10 and the 16 slots up for grabs would come in a first come, first serve basis.
Winner of the tournament will bag a weekly championship trophy and a cash prize, while runner-up and third place will not go home empty handed, as gift items and cash prizes also await them.
For more information on Round Two’s Thursday 8-ball invitational tournament, call 234-6930.
