Pinoys begin Derby City Classic campaign

SIX Filipino cue masters will banner the country’s campaign in the 2018 Derby City Classic beginning today at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana in Elizabeth, Indiana in US.

There are four events in the Derby City Classic namely the centerpiece 9-Ball, One-Pocket Challenge, 9-Ball Banks Division and the Bigfoot 10-Ball Challenge.

First in line is the Derby City Classic Bigfoot 10- Ball Challenge with World 8-Ball and World 9-Ball champion Ronnie Alcano and reigning Derby City Classic Master of the Table winner Dennis Orcollo leading the charge for the Philippines.

Also seeing action are veteran campaigners Roberto Gomez, Jeffrey De Luna, Lee Vann Corteza and 2004 World 9-Ball champion Alex Pagulayan.

Alcano will be playing Gomez while Orcollo battles Mika Immonen of Finland in the first round of the Bigfoot 10-Ball Challenge which offers a total prize fund of $32,000.

On the other hand, De Luna takes on Konrad Juszczyszyn of Poland, Pagulayan tackles Fedor Gorst of Russia, and Corteza goes up against John Morra of Canada.

The other participants in the event are Jayson Shaw of Scotland, Joshua Filler of the Netherlands, Ruslan Chinakov of Russia, and Americans Dennis Hatch, Shane Van Boening and Corey Deuel.

The champion in the Bigfoot 10-Ball Challenge will get $16,000 while the runner-up takes home $8,000. All losing semifinalists will get $4,000 each.

The Bigfoot 10- Ball Challenge will employ a knockout format.

The player with the most number of points after the four events (9-Ball, One-Pocket Challenge, 9-Ball Banks Division and Bigfoot 10-Ball Challenge) will be declared Master of the Table.

Last year, Orcollo topped the Derby City Classic 9- Ball Division while legendary cue master Francisco “Django” Bustamante ruled the Derby City Classic 9- Ball Banks.