Posted on Aug 11, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard, 9 Ball Challenge |
Chinese Taipei 9-ball stars Yang Ching-shun and Liu Shin-mei have advanced without much of a challenge into the quarterfinals of the World Games men’s and women’s 9-ball tournament, but the “Little Monster,” Kuo Po-cheng, was knocked out in a tense match. Billiards, and especially the 9-ball game, is popular in the host country, and local fans are hopeful the event will generate several medals for the Chinese Taipei World Games team. Yang, a two-time Asian Games champion and semifinalist at the 2002 9-ball World Championships shot his way past Ivica Putnik of Croatia 11-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the men’s 9-ball event Thursday. Nicknamed the “son of pool,” the Kaohsiung native won the 2001 World Games 9-ball gold medal, and after missing the 2005 tournament felt he could not pass up returning to the event staged in his hometown. He was joined there by Sweden’s Marcus Chamat, nicknamed Napoleon, who reached the semifinals of the 9-Ball World Championships in 2004. Chamat defeated Alejandro Carvajal of Chile 11-8. On the women’s side, Chinese Taipei’s Liu, the 1999 world 9-ball champion, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 9-4 win over Japan’s Akio Otani, despite not being at her best. Liu struggled to a 5-4 lead before winning the final four games. She will now face the “Duchess of Doom,” Great Britain’s Allison Fisher, in what has to be the marquee match-up of the quarterfinals. Fisher, who has won four 9-ball world championships and was nominated in June to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame, set up the showdown with a 9-3 win over Aspra Indurjeeth Panchoo of South Africa. Also reaching the final eight of the women’s draw was 2008 world 9-ball champion Lin Yuan-chun of Chinese Taipei, who brushed aside compatriot Tsai Pei-chen 9-2. In later matches, Kuo, the 2005 9-ball World Championship runner-up, was locked in a struggle the diminutive “Little Monster” stayed with American No. 1 Shane van Boening for much of the match before stumbling on the last rack to lose 11-10. But “Hitman” and 2003 9-ball world champion Thorsten Hohmann had no problem advancing, defeating Chi Dung Luong of Vietnam 11-4. Although Kuo lost, another local favorite Wy Yu-lun got the local crowd going with an upset of second seed Ricky Walden of Great Britain. Walden was the only player ranked in the top 20 in snooker entered in the World Games tournament. After players complained Wednesday that the venue felt like a freezer, the temperature at the Chung Cheng Martial Arts Stadium rose from 20 degrees to a still chilly 22 degrees. But Yang later said the cool temperature bothered him far less than a bout of nerves early in his match.
Posted on Aug 11, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard, 9 Ball Updates |
Filipina Amit is 9-Ball Pool World Champion
The 27 year old downed Liu, the 2006 Doha Asian Games gold medalist who reigned as world 9-ball queen in 1999 and 2004, with her superb shot-making to the delight of the appreciative weekend crowd.
The Philippines’ Rubilen Amit trounced two-time world titlist Liu Shin Mei of Chinese Taipei, 10-4 to rule the 2009 JBETpoker.net Women’s World 9-Ball Championship at The Block of the SM North Edsa in Quezon City. After she sank the final ball, Amit knelt in triumph, got up, hugged Liu and shook hands as confetti fell on them. She became the first 9-ball champion ever in the event, which was a recent addition to the sport. “Maraming salamat po, kayo ang ang nagpanalo sa akin (Thank you very much. I won because of you),” said Amit, who dedicated her triumph to her parents, patron Puyat Sports, and a certain “Tito Tolits” who recently passed away. The win by the pocket-sized Filipina earned her a whopping purse of $20,000 while Liu pocketed $9,000. She took the early initiative in the finals with a 6-3 lead. But Liu threatened, only to suffer a couple of miscues and allow the local favorite to take a 7-4 lead.
The crowd started to cheer loudly after Amit went ahead at 8-4 and louder when she sank a magical, double-rail shot on the No. 5 to reach the hill. It was all Amit in what proved to be the tournament’s final rack. It was Amit’s first international victory since falling short in the 2007 Amway World Women’s 9-Ball Championship in Chinese Taipei where she finished second.
“I didn’t expect to win. I only realized I won when I sank the final ball,” said Amit, a three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist including a pair in the 2005 Manila Games. More importantly, Amit joined the ranks of countrymen Efren “Bata” Reyes, Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan and Ronnie Alcano, who have won world titles in 9-ball and 8-ball. Reyes, adored by many because of his skills and humble demeanor, won the 9-ball title in 1999 and 8-ball in 2004, Alcano the 9-ball and 8-ball titles in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and Pagulayan the 9-ball plum in 2004. “It feels great being in that company,” said Amit, who is now 2-1 in her head-to-head duel with Liu. Earlier, Amit broke out of a close game by hitting the shots that mattered most to overcome a tough Akimi Kajitani of Japan, 9-6, in the semifinals. Amit made it this far by trouncing a heavily favored Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee of the United States in a nerve-wracking 9-8 hill-hill quarterfinal victory. Before that, the Cebu-born, Taguig-based Amit downed Julie Kelly of Ireland, 8-4, and Tan Hsiang Ling of Chinese Taipei, 8-3, in the first two rounds of the knockout phase also Friday. It was her eighth straight triumph since opening her campaign with a 1-5 setback to world No. 1 Kelly Fisher of England, who was booted out in the quarters by Liu in another hill-hill win, 9-8.
GOODNEWSPILIPINAS
Posted on Aug 01, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard |
Antonio Gabica came back from a shattering defeat to assure the Philippines of its first gold medal, forging an all-Filipino final with Jeffrey de Luna in the billiards 9-ball event in the 15th Doha Asian Games late Monday night. Gabica, who lost the gold in the 8-ball final, blasted Korean Jeoung Young Hwa, 11-5, in the semis to seal the title duel for the 9-ball gold with De Luna who earlier routed Taiwan’s Yang Ching Shun, 11-7, hours after he snatched a thrilling hill-hill duel over Yukio Akagariyama of Japan, 11-10, in the quarters.
The gold medal showdown further underscored the domination by the Filipinos in the sport after the triumphs of Bata Reyes and Django Bustamante in the inaugural World Cup, the win by Reyes in the IPT World 8-ball Open, and Ronnie Alcano’s recent win in the World 9-Ball Championship. It could also fuel the RP bets’ gold medal rush at the finish of the quadrennial meet. Rookie Joan Tipon put one over Athens Olympics silver medalist Worapoj Petchkoom in their tightly fought duel that was decided via tiebreak in the bantamweight division to join compatriot Violito Payla in the finals. Tipon fought back from three points down, blew a two-point lead, then prevailed in the end of the thrilling contest that ended in 13-all and needed a countback to give the Filipino fighter a passage to the final. “It was a hard-fought victory,” said Tipon. “I dedicate this victory to my country and my family. I will give my best to win (the gold).” The victory over the Athens Olympics silver medalist thus broke the Thais’ domination of the Filipinos in the sport and Tipon’s win avenged the defeat suffered earlier by fellow rookie Godfrey Castro, who bowed to a stylish Suban Pannon via RSC (referee stopped contest) in the third round in their semifinal showdown in the lightflyweight division. Castro settled for the bronze. Mamiit later teamed up with fellow Fil-Am Eric Taino and pulled off a pulsating three-setter over Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin and Murad Inoyatov to advance to the semifinals of the men’s doubles. Two wushu experts advanced to the quarterfinals of the sanshou division. World champion Rene Catalan defeated Hudarayov Utkir of Kyrgyzstan, 5-0,5-0, and Mark Eddiva outclassed Fedoseev Aleksey also of Kyrgyzstan, 5-0, 5-0.
The 20-year-old Cojuangco, who had 8 penalties Sunday, cleared her round Monday but Toni Leviste and Juan Ramon Lanza had 4 each and the Philippines wound up with 28 penalties to finish in sixth. Paola Zobel didn’t count with 31 and 20 penalties in the two-day event.
Posted on Jul 30, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard, 9 Ball Challenge |
Iris Ranola Captures Oklahoma Women’s State 9-Ball Championship
The OB Cues Ladies Tour and Magoo’s in Tulsa, OK hosted the Second Annual Oklahoma State Women’s 9-Ball Championship on July 25th & 26th. Thirty-five women were in attendance for the event, with 15 ladies competing for the 2010 US Open qualifier. The diverse field that arrived to play proved very tough when the doors opened Saturday morning, as this event is the only OB Cues stop that allows WPBA professionals to participate. Notable players on hand were WPBA Pros Iris Ranola, Janet Atwell, and Heather Pulford, 2009 OB Cues Ladies Tour Champion Lisa Marr, 2009 BCA Women’s Open Champion Cristina De La Garza, 2009 BCA Grand Master Runner-up Julia Gabriel, 2008 BCA Grand Master Runner-Up Bonnie Plowman, and former WPBA professional Julie (Mason) Comitini. There were some key matches early in the event, knocking many tough opponents to the B-side of the bracket earlier than expected and from there, knocking several out of the main event on Saturday evening.
Twelve players returned for the main event on Sunday, with four players remaining undefeated: Theresa Wilson, Janet Atwell, Julie Comitini, and Iris Ranola. The first round of the B-side eliminated Laura McDermott, Tara Williams, Shayla Neris, and Natalie Starr in a tie for 9th. Lisa Marr and Kathy McMinn finished a respectable 7th. The 5th place matches pitted the four remaining qualifier contenders against each other, each vying to remain in the running for the spot in the 2010 US Open. Heather Pulford and Julie Comitini were able to keep their qualifier dreams alive, while Theresa Wilson and Ginny Keeler had to settle for a paycheck and a 5th place finish. After all was said and done, Julie Comitini took the 4th place finish and Heather Pulford walked away with the spot for the 2010 US Open event and a chance to improve her standing in the tournament. On the winner’s side, Iris Ranola was matched against fellow professional Janet Atwell. Iris came out on top in a hill-hill match and had to wait for the 3rd place match to see whom she would face in the finals. Janet came out on top against Heather 7-4. Congratulations to Heather Pulford for her 3rd place finish and we wish her good luck next year in the 2010 US Open. In a repeat of the hot seat match, Iris and Janet would face each other once again to see who would be crowned the 2009 Oklahoma State 9-Ball Champion. Before the finals match could begin, two cues donated by OB Cues were raffled to support the event. The lucky winners were regular OB Cue Tour members, Tara Williams and Sandy Rodermund.
-WBPA WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL BILLIARD ASSOCIATION
Posted on Jul 28, 2009 under 9 Ball Challenge |
Matt Krah wins Raxx Blaze 9 ball.
The Blaze 9 Ball Tour made its way to Raxx Billiards Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, NY. Thirty-four players made there way to the event, players like Matt Krah, Mike “The Baby Face Assassin” Davis, Danny Basavich, Steve Lillis, Spanish Pete, Wali Muhammad to name a few. Special thanks to Holden Chin and Raxx Billiards Bar & Grill for hosting the event, also thanks to the staff at Raxx for a wonderful time.
Leading the way on the top half of the bracket was Wali Muhammad with wins over Carol Martorana 7-1, Vinroy Logan 7-2, Jerry Tarantola 7-6, Mark Pantovic 7-5. Leading the way on the bottom half of the bracket was Matt Krah with wins over Mike Dunn 7-3 Carmen Lombardo 7-6 Holden Chin 7-5 Beau Baer 7-4. Playing for the hot seat was Wali Muhammad Vs Matt Krah, Wali Muhammad jumped out to a 4-2 lead but Krah came right back by winning the next 5 games to win the match 7-4, giving him the hot seat and sending Wali to the one lost side.
Making a run on the one lost side was Mark Pantovic with wins over Mike Fingers 7-3, Mike “The Baby Face Assassin” Davis 7-6 and Wali Muhammad 7-3 to get to the finals.
In the finals it was Matt Krah Vs Mark Pantovic and this would have been a great match since both players where shooting great and on top of their game but due to personal problems Mark Pantovic could not continue so he had to forfeit the match to Matt Krah, Giving Krah the Blaze 9 Ball Tour 9th Stop. Jose Burgos would like to thank the following sponsors for their support; Blaze Cues, Sterling Gaming, Cue Sight, Tiger Products, Ray Shuler Cues, Robin Dobson Frog Jump Cue, Ariel Carmeli Custom Cues, Smith & Weston Cues, Baby’s Pro-shop Sledgehammer, Allen Hopkins Super Expo, Creative Inventions Joe Porper, Longoni Cues, Stealth Cues, Run-Out Sports Wear, Inside Pool, JAB Cues & Things, AZ Billiards, Hustlin Sports Wear, www.highendcues.com, TAS Management LTD 1-888-253-8958, Mike Mosley Insurance Agency 215-672-9900, Predator, NVS Audio, Bullseye Security and Long Island Web Design Company.
blazetour.com 
Posted on Jul 28, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard |
Rising pool star the 19-year-old Banares, who beat twice former World 9-ball champ Thorsten Hohmann of German last year will spearheaded the Filipino campaign cue in the event dubbed as”Showdown @ Megamall” with the champion receiving the top prize money US$20,000 and a slot for this year’s World Ten ball.
” Basta maglalaro lamang tayo. Ibibigay ko ang aking best,” said Banares, during the press conference yesterday hosted by Raya Sports president and BSCP chairman Yen Makabenta.
Also includes in yesterday’s pressconference are BSCP officials Jun Diokno, Edgar Acaba and Emanuel Argonza, Filipino cue artists Marlon Manalo, Jeffrey de Luna, Demosthenes Pulpul and 15-year-old Jonas Magpantay.
The second, third and fourth placers gets US$10,000, and US$ 5,000, respectively. Prizes will be awarded up to 32nd place according to the organizing committee Raya Sports headed by Yen Makabenta in close cooperation with the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) led by long-time billiards patron Sebastian “Baste” Chua, also the president of the famous Star Billiards Center in this jointly event sanctioned by WPA, Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) and BSCP.
Other Filipinos in the inaugural Philippine Open Pool Championship are Acaba, Alan Cuartero, Arnel Bautista, Resty Labastida, Jestoni Magadia, Archie Padal, Elvis Calasang, Oliver Villafuerte, Leonardo Didal, Elmer kalaquian, Luis Saberdo, Marvin Tapia, Mario Tolentino and Cebuano star Antonio Gabica, the Doha Asiad gold medallist.
The event which features some of the world best that includes World Ten Ball champion Darren Appleton of Great Britain, WPA world No.1 player Ralf Souquet of Germany, two-time World Junior champion Ko Pin Yi of Chinese-Taipei, current US open champion and former world champion Mika Immonen of Finland, current US No. 1 Shane Van Boening and Billiards Congress of America (BCA) Open 9-Ball women’s champion Jasmin Ouschan of Austria, Karen Corr and Julie Kelly of Ireland and Kelly Fisher of Great Britain.
Jericho Bañares of Antipolo City is the new Philippine junior pool champion, the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines announced in a press statement issued on Monday. Bañares bagged the 2nd BSCP Junior Pool Championship title with a 13-8 win over John Carlo Cerna of Pasay City in the finals of the tournament held Sunday night at the Star Billiards Center in Quezon City.
Posted on Jul 23, 2009 under 9 Ball Challenge |
The Challenge Cup & The GB9 Paul Medati Trophy
Karl Boyes on a tremendous victory in the 128 Player main event at the GB9 Tournament in Barnsley.
This is Karl’s first GB9 title - but it was noted by a few “in the know” players that Karl appeared to have brought his brilliant streak of good form back with him from his recent sucessful visit to Germany where he was playing some of the best pool in his career, ultimately reaching the Quarter-Final stage of the 240 player field of the best pool talent in Europe.
Like many of the best players in the world, Boyes’ results improved throughout the event, despite a “touch and go” result in the Quarter Final (9-8 vs Craig Osborne) Boyes then spread his wings and appeared to cruise through the two final stages with strong victories over his two final opponents—–
Steve Folan was another new name added to the exclusive list of players with a GB9 title to their name.
Folan had just returned from a visit to Las Vegas where he had a couple of momentous victories in the Predator 10 Ball Open. After qualifying for the prestigious single elimination rounds he notched up a strong win over Raj Hundal, now playing for India, and then a notable victory over Shane Van Boening - unarguably the hottest ten ball player in the world at the moment!
Surfing this wave of confidence it’s no wonder that Folan made short work of collecting his first GB9 Trophy.
The Pro Cup
Daryl Peach’s name appears to have tenancy rights on The GB9 Pro Cup trophy, as this was the incredible third time he has won this title in the two short seasons that the GB9 tour has been running.
There were some notable absentees from the Pro Cup line-up, as Imran Majid, the hottest GB9 player of the 2008 season with a staggering set of results and trophies from the GB9 tour was committed to playing ten ball in Sarajevo.
Maltese snooker legend, and former Predator 10 Ball Champion Tony Drago was absent due to a previous snooker engagement, and World 10 Ball Champion Darren Appleton was occupied in his “home from home” in Manila as he was invited to the Philippine 10 Ball Open.
With some of the top players absent due to these prior engagements, Peach, the reigning World 9 Ball Champion from Blackpool, must have known he had a good chance of striking gold again, and sure enough, this was his second Pro Cup win on the spin!
Posted on Jul 23, 2009 under 9 Ball Updates |
The Belmopan Guinness 9-ball tournament.
In game 1 Donaldo Welders welded Las Palmas Strikers, 4-1. Yes, two teams of Cotton Tree clashed, but Welders were on a roll. Winning for Welders were Rafael Moldano, who beat Nally Guy, 5-3; Donaldo Murillo, who took care of David Palma, 5-3; Roberto Sanabria, who also whapped his opponent, Noe Palma, by 5-3; and Mario Lopez, who won Eggy Guy by 5-4. For Las Palmas, it was Mainor Segastume, who has the best record for his team, to blank Manuel Barrientos, 5-0.
In game 2 Saldivar SharpShooters were up 3-0 over Fort Point Security, but they shot-out the lights, causing power outage, so two more matches did not play. They will be played when the teams meet in the second round of the tournament. Winning the first three matches for Saldivar SharpShooters were: Densford Mangar, who mashed Cyrus Mira, 5-1; Elroy Grinage, who came close to beating Carmen Zetina, 5-0, but ended the game in 5-1; and Clifford King, who won Samantha Metzger, 5-3; but it was interesting to see Samantha make King sweat and put on his game face. Gerson Zetina of Fort Point Security was up over Dale Gillett, 2-1; and the Juan Villanueva and Delon Garbutt game did not play due to blackout.
In game 3 Las Flores won Salvapan Shattaz, 4-1. Las Flores, who are looking really good, got the big “W”, though some would say that it was because two of Shattaz top players did not show-up; but, big up the Las Flores Strikers! For Las Flores, Oscar Avelar showed Juan Gusman that he’s got game, by striking him, 5-2; Salvador Orellana calmly disciplined the captain of Shattaz, Elder Paredes, 5-3; Julio Hernandez won Wayne Wiltshire by default; and Adali Alvarez won Ernest Borland, also by default. Winning for Shattaz was Erwin Paredes, who hurt Elias Hernandez.
In game 4 Gunslingers beat San Martin Dolphins, 3-2. For Gunslingers, Pedro Escobar defeated Luis Najera, 5-4; Teo Fernandez embarrassed Francisco Coxic, 5-ZIP; oh boy, Teo is back; and David dropped Victor Orellano, 5-3. In the losing effort for Dolphins, big-up Moises Aguirre, who cramped Kenny Arnold, 5-3; and Luis Palma, who took out Corporal Thomas Myers, 5-4.
In game 5 Burners burned Las Palmas Strikers, 3-2. For Burners, Stanley Mira burned David Palma, 5-4. Stanley was down, but made a great comeback to drop David. Erwin Woodye, Jr. had luck on his side, as he won Edmund Guy, 5-4; and Brian Mira won Nally Guy, 5-4. Nally should have won the game, but we would say the umpire’s mistake was Brian’s beefsteak. In the losing effort, Rueben Ruiz downed Darwin Woodye, 5-2; and Mainor Segastume worked Ally Arnold, 5-1.
In game 6 Salvapan Shattaz defeated Saldivar SharpShooters, 3-2. This could easily be previews of coming attractions in the play-offs, as these two teams, I would bet, will be in the play-offs. For Shattaz, Ernest “Puff” Borland defeated his good friend Elroy Grinage, 5-3. Interestingly, Elroy had been saying that he wanted to play Puff. Hey, Elroy, be careful what you wish for; you just might get it. Juan Gusman demolished Densford Mangar, 5-1; and Wayne Wiltshire made Juan Villanueva look like a rookie, by whapping him, 5-0. Oh no, can you believe Juan taking 5-0? Oh yes, it is not a dream; it’s for real.
In game 7 Gunslingers gunned down Donaldo Welders, 4-1. For Gunslingers, Teo Fernandez shot-down Santos Palma, 5-3; I told you Teo is back; Ernest Turner sailed Saam Yaam away, 5-3; Corporal Thomas Myers handcuffed Mario Lopez, 5-2; and Captain Bruce Pelayo humiliated Rafael Maldano, 5-1.
In game 8 Saldivar SharpShooters blanked Burners, 5-0. For SharpShooters, Juan Villanueva had blood in his eyes from his last match, and took it out on Erwin Woodye, by banging him, 5-1; you da di man, Juan; Elroy Grinage, who was beaten 5-0 by a burner player in the first match, said it was pay back time, and did just that, as he blanked Ally Arnold, 5-0.
Posted on Jul 14, 2009 under 9 Ball Updates |
The attack is called “Nine-Ball” because of the name of the final, malicious landing page, which is loaded with drive-by exploits, that unsuspecting users automatically are redirected to if they visit one of the compromised sites.
A new threat dubbed “Nine-Ball” has compromised up to 40,000 legitimate websites, which are, in turn, infecting users with an information-stealing trojan, according to security vendor Websense.
Ninetoraq.in, the exploit site, contains malicious code that looks for already patched vulnerabilities in Acrobat Reader, QuickTime, Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) and AOL SuperBuddy, which it then attempts to exploit, Stephan Chenette, manager of security research at Websense, told SCMagazineUS.com on Wednesday.
The flaws have all been patched; some date back to 2006, Chenette said. But, the Reader and QuickTime vulnerabilities are newer, making it less likely that users are patched for them. If the malicious code finds an unpatched vulnerability to exploit, it either drops a malicious PDF file or a trojan designed to steal user information, Chanette said.
All of the exploits currently have low detection rates, he added.
The 40,000 legit but compromised websites were “sleeping” up until Monday, Chanette said. Before then, if a user visited one of them, they were redirected to Ask.com. On Monday, though, the attack updated and users started being redirected to the ninetoraq malicious site.
Currently, users who visit one of the compromised sites are first sent through a chain of redirections before landing on the final exploit site ninetoraq. Though users simply see the normal content on the infected page, the redirections would occur in the background without their knowledge — so a user would not see that they are on the ninetoraq site. By sending users through numerous redirections, it makes the job of tracking the attackers more difficult, Chanette said.
During the redirections, a visitor’s IP address is recorded. If the IP address is determined to be new, the user is directed to the exploit payload site. But if the user’s IP address has already been recorded, they are directed from the compromised site to the benign site Ask.com — which they would see happen, Chanette said.
The reason attackers have included this feature could be to evade security companies who are probing the infected sites and attempting to analyze the attack — one might assume the attack no longer works, because they are being directed to a benign site.
Websense researchers determined that the compromised sites are not running a common piece of software, which means the sites have been injected with malicious code via stolen credentials that have been previously obtained.
Getting rid of the problem requires multiple steps, Chanette said. Website owners must look at their site’s source code for obfuscated or scrambled code. Then they need to change the credentials to all accounts that can access that website.
Chanette said that none of the 40,000 infected sites for this particular attack are well-known brands.
“Attackers are going after quantity and not quality,” Chanette said. “If they go after big name websites, they are shut down faster.”
Over the past several months, there have been similar mass-injection attack waves like this every few weeks, Neil Daswani, co-founders of web anti-malware vendor Dasient, told SCMagazineUS.com Wednesday.
A similar threat, called Gumblar, made headlines recently for compromising approximately 60,000 legitimate websites. In addition, another mass-injection attack, Beladen, was said to have infected 40,000 websites.
Daswani said that in the past two years there has been a 600 percent increase in the number of trusted websites being used as malware distribution points. Compromised websites face a number of consequences, including being blacklisted by search engines, which typically causes a significant drop in traffic.
“Once they clean up, the challenge is to try and get back traffic,” Daswani said. “From businesses we have spoken to, once they clean up, it’s very hard to get back to [the former] traffic level because there’s a loss of consumer confidence.”
http://www.scmagazineus.com
Posted on Jul 07, 2009 under Uncategorized |
9 ball influence at Cebu
Some parents will never tolerate having their children play billiards. Count Renato Cumayas out.
Cumayas and the rest of his clan were at SM City Cebu yesterday to cheer on his youngest son, Jerson, who went on to claim the elementary division title of the Manny Villar Cup-Sun.Star Super Balita 9-Ball Challenge over Joshua Ababon.
Cumayas, an elementary school teacher, negates the bad image that billiards has among some parents and said only the parents can be made accountable for the bad image of billiards—of the sport being a quicksand that takes kids away from school.
“That is why it is very disappointing when we hear stories that kids had to leave school just so they could pursue a billiards career. How the parents could allow such, is more disappointing,” said Renato, who even introduced billiards to Jerson, to get him away from his peers.
Cumayas, who is also at the forefront of his son’s blossoming career, believes that his son, or anybody for that matter, can still be good in billiards and be good in school.
“I see to it that I monitor him. He needs to balance his schoolwork and studies. That makes me a strict parent, I guess. But it is for his own good,” said Cumayas.
After seeing the potential in his son, Cumayas brought a billiards table, where they worked on his kid’s skills.
“That table is off-limits except a few minutes after school and after my work and during weekends,” Cumayas added.
Cumayas feels that it will be a waste if kids could not continue school just because of billiards. “It is all up to the parents to guide their children. If we were able to do it, then everyone else can,” he said.
Jerson has been training for two years and since competitions for young boys are scarce, he plays older players, until such time when nobody wants to compete against the diminutive sixth grader from Tayud Elementary School.
They signed up right away after hearing of the Superbalita Challenge and hit paydirt when Jerson won the elementary division title.
“All his hard work and discipline finally paid off,” said Renato of Jerson, who is also a chess champion in the Lilo-an District.
Up next for the little boy is the high school title though the father is in no rush for the young pool champion.
One of the reasons that red flags are raised about kids playing billiards is their skipping school that’s why it was a breath of fresh air when Cumayas as well as
highschool winner Junmark Alegado became testaments that billiards should not be a hindrance from getting schooled.
Alegado, the 2006 Superbalita elementary champion, studies at the University of the Visayas in Toledo City.
Like Jerson, Alegado is “feared” in any pool hall in his city.
Alegado, who won, 9-3 over University of Cebu’s Elihil Pepito in the secondary finals yesterday, assured his parents and his school that education comes first.
“I always play billiards, but I never take for granted my education. It always comes first,” said the 15-year-old, who proudly announced that he never flunked a single subject because of billiards
With his good performance in school, Alegado has given his school a good reason to trust him and gave him the certification to join this year’s competition.
Alegado won the 2006 elementary division, but failed to compete last year, when the school thought it was a bad idea to allow a student to play billiards.
“I plan to be a better player and be a world champion and if not have a career someday,” Alegado said. Credits S.StarCebu