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Las Vegas World Cup Groups Drawn

March 11th, 2022 | azhousepro | Uncategorized

Hugo Patino and Pedro Piedrabuena from the 2021 Silver Cup

The UMB has drawn the groups for the March 27 to April 2 World Cup in Las Vegas.  The groups, player list, and timetable can be found on the UMB website (https://www.umb-carom.org) under the Active Events tab.  Twenty-two (22) USBA players will participate in the World Cup.

The Las Vegas World Cup, sponsored by Predator, will be held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. Per the UMB rules, Predator has selected Pedro Piedrabuena and Hugo Patiño as its wildcard entries into the 1/16 main tournament round at the World Cup. Piedrabuena won his 10th national championship crown in December 2021, and Patiño is a four-time USA title holder.
Joining Piedrabuena and Patiño in the World Cup are twenty (20) other USBA enthusiasts. Ten (10) USBA players have been placed into the groups per the UMB rules. Tae Kyu Lee and Miguel Torres, based on their world rankings, were placed into the PQ round. Lee won the 2020 US national tournament and finished second in the 2021 nationals. Torres has won the US national tournament twice. Five (5) USBA players, based on their finish in the 2021 US National tournament, have been placed into the PPQ round: Young Kyu Lee, Edward Gomez, John Park, Kang Lee, and Eric Kwon. Raymond Groot, who was selected by the USBA, has also been placed in the PPQ round. Mazin Shooni and Frank Torres, each a former national champion chosen by the USBA to participate in the World Cup, have been placed in the PPPQ round.
Ten (10) spots remain to be chosen for USBA entries into the World Cup. Eight (8) will be chosen on March 25 in a qualifier, and the other two (2) will be determined on March 26 in a second qualifier. The following USBA players are entered into the March 25 qualifier.

 

Mario Garcia
Quoc Vo
Seungkwon Hong
Raye Raskin
Ricardo Carranco
Jesus Corona
Ertan Tarhan
Carlos Villegas
Jorge Hernan John Patarroyo
Andres Fernandez
Jose Pelayo		 Andres Mora
Vicke Pineda
Jairo Lenis
Zoel A Kehrt Matta
Camilo Medina
Chang Pyun
Jose Cruz
Julian Banol Molina
Ahmet Ozan
Jay Karahan		 Ricky Carranco Sr.
Young Gul Lee
Henry Ugartechea
Guillermo Alejandro Sosa
Jovanny Caballos
Elmer Meza
Jose Delatorre
Ho Ahn
Bilal Khalifa
Olegario Gonzalez
Trinidad Espinosa

 

These thirty-two (32) players will be drawn into 8 groups of 4, with the winner of each group qualifying. On March 26, there will be a single elimination bracket to determine the final two (2) qualifiers. The players will play in a single-elimination bracket, with the two (2) finalists earning spots in the World Cup. SOME SPOTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE FOR THE MARCH 26 QUALIFIER. REGISTER ON THE USBA WEBSITE.

For any questions about the USBA qualifiers for the World Cup, or for the World Cup, call 410 599 8177.

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Piedrabuena Over Patino at Silver Cup 3-Cushion Event

May 19th, 2021 | azhousepro | Uncategorized

Hugo Patino and Pedro Piedrabuena

The Silver Cup in Huntington Park was captured by Pedro Piedrabuena. He beat his eternal rival Hugo Patino in a one-sided final: 35-15 in 18, to defend his 2019 title. 

We should not assume that Pedro always wins. Hugo has four national titles, and he has beaten Pedro many times. But it is the quiet man from Montevideo, now San Diego, who has the much better all-year general average, the precision, the temperament. And nine national USA titles, let’s not forget. Pedro is the strongest 3-cushion player on the continent, has been ever since he took over from the legendary Sang Chun Lee, and he’s not about to step down. 

Ricky Carranco and Raymon Groot were the losing semifinalists, Groot eventually winning the play-off for 3d place. The Dutchie booked a character win over the very dangerous Harry Pena in the quarters. Pena did play the best match of the tournament: 35 in 12. Groot left some chances unused against Piedrabuena, Carranco, tournament director as well as player, found his Waterloo against Patino. 

It was remarkable to see how many matches went to the wire, or “hill-hill” as the pool players would say. Even though handicaps were used (35 – 32 – 29 – 27 – 25 – 22), all the strongest players survived the group stage to create a high-quality final day. If anything was obvious, it was that players as well as spectators had been dying for this kind of action in the past year and a half. 

 The tournament was partly in honor of the recently deceased Luis Avila from Mexico, a top player who often participated in events on US soil. Kudos to Vicke Pineda, Hector Ocampo, Ricky Carranco, POV Pool and others to make a 72-player event possible.