Ricardo Chavez wins Manhattan 9-Ball Championship

Manhattan Pool Room in Mexico City, hosted the “Manhattan 9 Ball Championship”, with a 48 player field from all over the country competing for the 12,000 mexican pesos purse in a double elimination format.  

The first day two players found themselves in the losers side: Jonathan Delgado (2005 national champion) and Ricardo Chávez (Mexico City Champion), while other top players advanced to the unbeaten eight spots: Jorge Ramos (2004 junior national champion), Ruben Bautista (2008 national runner-up), Emmanuel Aguilar (2005 junior national champion) and the strongest player, Mauro Ibarra (two time national champion).

The biggest upset on day two, was the elimination of Mauro Ibarra by 15 year-old Arturo Noceda, the youngest player of the field (6-1). Ruben Bautista, who recently participated in the Panama 10-Ball Grand Prix seemed to be on the verge of reaching the final, but a 7-4 defeat to the hands of Jorge Ramos sent him to the loser's final, where he awaited his next opponent.

To meet him there was Ricardo Chavez, who after being sent to the left side of the chart early the first day, played a total of seven matches without rest to reach this point. Chavez reached the final with a 7-2 score over Bautista, settled with 2,000 mexican pesos for third place.

The final between Mexico City and Toluca City was a two hour race to nine that had everyone in the crowd cheering for his favorite. Ramos seemed to be in control early with the score 7-5 in his favor, and had the chance to go up 3 games, when he scratched in an attempt to draw the cue ball. Chavez won and tied the score in the next game, raising his game a notch despite fatigue.

And so to the hill it went, and there Ramos had ball-in-hand with the 3 ball and a 6-9 combo. Everyone thought it was over, but he didn't get as good position as he wanted, and missed the combo badly. Ricardo had a shot on the 6, and ran out for the victory and the $6,000 pesos first place prize.

Ricardo Chavez $6,000 pesos.
Jorge Ramos $4,000 pesos.
Ruben Bautista $2,000 pesos.