"Pacman"10 Ball Doubles Event: Final 8 Left Playing For 40k

Manny Pacuiao with John Morra

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The week of billiard festivities at the Long Tuna festival in General Santos Philippines is into full swing now with the pick your own partner down to the final eight teams. The week kicked off with a 90 player singles tournament which featured virtually every notable Filipino player. Thorsten Hohmann (Germany) made an epic comeback in the singles event winning no less than 11 matches straight and overcoming a 12-7 deficit in the final to defeat Roberto Gomez (Philippines) 13-12.

Both events are being promoted by multiple time World Champion boxer Manny Pacquiao. I have been in contact with Canada's John Morra while he is in the Philippines and he has informed me that there have been official announcements that Pacquiao will be promoting another set of tournaments in December with a similar format.

Here are some of the notable pairings of the 60 team event:

Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes 

Ko pin Yi and Ko Pin Chung (Taiwan)

John Morra and Thorsten Hohmann 

Ramil Gallego and Warren Kiamco

Manny Pacquiao and Ronnie Alcano

Alex Pagulayan and Gandy Valle

Carlo Biado and Dennis Orcollo

No draw was easy in this event and the pairing of John Morra and Thorsten Hohmann were thrown into the fire from the get go against Elvis Calasang and Michael Feliciano both highly regarded Filipino players. They were up to the challenge and came away with a 9-6 victory. Their second match would be no easier as they would be up against Alex Pagulayan and Gandy Valle (Philippines).

The Venue "Pacman" Sports Stadium

Morra informed me that they got off to a flawless start in the single knockout race to 9 format taking a 6-0 lead, they closed out the match with a 9 4 win to advance to the final 16 on the winners side. Morra and Hohmann were expecting to play one of the tournament favourites in the next round but two junior players from the Phillipines, Centeno and Roda, defeated the pairing of Orcollo and Biado 9-7. This is a major accomplishment for the young players from the Philippines!! Morra and Hohmann who have been in fine form however ended the dream run of the junior pair this morning defeating them 9-2.

In Other notable matches Manny Pacquiao and his partner Ronnie Alcano were victorious in their first match. International legends Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes have advanced to the final 8. Young guns Jeffery De Luna and Jeffrey Ignacio remain undefeated and experienced veteran Ramil Gallego and Antonio Lining are still in the hunt.

Final 8 matchups:

Gomez and Kiamco vs Pin Chung and Pin Yi

Hohmann and Morra vs Esquillo and Silvano

Gallego and Lining vs De Luna and Ignacio

Labrador and Bongay vs Bustamante and Reyes

We have also received word that the semi-finals and finals will be streamed at http://www.welovesport.com/ . Time of the final match is unavailable but we will put up a link on our Facebook page. Good luck to all the remaining players.