A tremendous set up with a lot of press and a wonderful atmosphere was the Pan-Am Championship 2003 in Rosario, Argentina. In the male category forty players from 15 countries formed a strong field for the coveted Pan-American Title. Bolivia with one player and Puerto Rico with two young guns were the new comers.
Ernesto Domingues, the 2001 Pan-American Champion from Mexico and Ditto Acosta the 2002 Pan Am Champion from Aruba were both present this year. After two days of battles, crying and cheering 16 players made it to the knock out stage. Alan Rolon from Puerto Rico had to eliminate his countryman Jason Cruz to get a pass to Cardiff. Ditto Acosta ran over his best Pool friend Laercio de Souza from Brazil 9 to 4. Ryan Rampersaud from Aruba made a great come back from a 5 to 1 disadvantage to eliminate strong Argentinean Rodrigo de Luca 9 to 5.
Richard Wolff also from Aruba shocked all present with another great come back to beat Alejandro Carvajal from Chile 9 to 8. Jorge Llanos from Argentina was too much for the young Brazilian Fabio Bozza. The 18 year old Christian Lesiuk from Argentina got a standing ovation for beating the tournament favorite Ernesto Domingues 9 to 5. Miguel Jerez from Argentina ended the Chilean hopes when he defeated Enrique Rojas and Mexican veteran Mauricio Ibarra ran over young Peruvian John Lopez.
In the next round Ditto Acosta put a stop for the young Christian Lesiuk 9 to 5. Wolff then beat another Argentinean Miguel Jerez 9 to 6. Jorge Llanos again showing great skills defeated Mexico's Mauro Ibarra and Alan Rolon was perfect against Ryan Rampersaud.
The semi's had everything in it with Acosta beating countryman Wolff 9 to 4 and Llanos as local favorite beating Puerto Rican best Alan Rolon 9 to 6. The final was a revenge of last year semi's where Acosta beat Llanos 9 to 2; but this time it was a different story with Llanos taking control early in the match and lifting the trophy and the 2003 Championship with an 11 to 4 victory.
2003 Pan-American Ladies 9 Ball Championship
The female category of the Pan-American Championships had 16 players from 6 countries battle for the 2nd Pan-American Ladies 9 Ball Championship. Soledad Contreras, last year's Pan Am Champion was there to defend her title.
Young but strong Argentinean Laura Famin cruised through the field of players and defeated another great young talent Adriana Villar from Costa Rica for the 2003 Pan-American title.
For additional information, results and pictures about The 2003 Pan-Am please visit poolinaruba.com website. The CPB rankings will also be updated soon.
Above information provided with the collaboration of the Pool in Aruba Website and the CPB (Confederacion Panamericana de Billar), the governing body for cue sports in Latin America and the Caribbean.
