Alcano bags 2006 World Pool title

Ronato "Calamba" Alcano is the 2006 World Pool champion. If he could beat Efren "Bata" Reyes, seeded second at the start of the tournament, he could certainly beat seventh seed Ralf "The Kaiser" Souquet — as he convincingly demonstrated on Sunday with a 17-11 score in the race-to-17 final match at the Philippine International Convention Center. Despite several unforced errors, Alcano played cool and consistent racks, which kept Souquet grim-faced all throughout. In the 28th rack, Alcano quickly took the title with 1-ball-to-9-ball combination that had the audience clapping and cheering wildly. Alcano got to the the final round of the $400,000 event after beating Li He Wen of China, 11-8, in the semifinals Saturday evening. It was a bittersweet journey for the 34-year-old native of Calamba, Laguna, as he had to beat his compatriot Roberto Gomez in the last-64 round and idol Bata Reyes in the last-32 round — then the players of Chinese Taipei, Kuo Po Cheng in the last 16 and defending champion Wu Chia-ching in the quarterfinals. Alcano was the 2005 Asian Tour Philippines champion and the 2003 Joss NE Tour Rookie Of The Year. Souquet, on the other hand, entered his third World Pool title match after besting Fu Chei-wei, 11-10, in the other semifinal match. The 37-year-old German, who celebrates his birthday on Nov. 29, was the 1996 World Pool Champion. Souquet has to compete against a host of good players on his way to the final. He defeated Liu Cheng-chuan in the quarterfinals, K. Stepanov of Russia in the last-16 round, Yang Ching-shung of Chinese Taipei in the last-32 round, and Huidji See of Netherlands in the last-64 round. Alcano's win more than made up for the loss of the favorite Filipinos in the tournament, notable of whom are Reyes and Francisco "Django" Bustamante. The last Filipino to bid goodbye in the tilt was Rodolfo Luat who ran out of luck against Fu Che-Wei of Chinese Taipei, 11-7. Luat, however, will not be going home empty handed as he pocketed $10,000 quarterfinal prize. - GMANews.TV