American players meet in group stages

LIMA - The American billiard players have gathered in the Estadio Nacional de Lima (Peru) this week until Saturday for the Pan American championship three cushion individually and by team. The preliminary rounds started on Monday afternoon, the team finals are on Saturday. Players from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and host land Peru join in the battle for the titles.

The reigning Pan American champion Henry Diaz (Colombia) has now arrived after he had missed his flight at El Dorado Airport in Bogota due to a wrong family name on his ticket. Diaz is one of the players seeded for the main tournament.

The Colombian champion Pedro Gonzalez has ceded his position to his compatriot Luis Martinez. The champion was not on the main table by internal problems within his federation.

Known Colombians like Alexander Salazar, Carlos Campino, Harry Reyes, Julian Morales, Julian Torres, Oscar Brown, Estiven Uribe, John Martinez and Jose Juan Garcia are divided into the group stages for the qualifying rounds and have to battle it out for a place in the main tournament with only four players per country. The organizing country Peru starts with five players for four places: Tevez, Aguilar Aguirre, Ormea and Villareal.

Carlos Izquierdo, president of the Peruvian federation and new vice-president of the CPB, made it possible to organize the Pan American championships in Peru with the support of sponsors: Oftalmosalud-Simonis-Aramith-Pomar-Libero AOC.

The groups fort he Pré qualifications:

Groupe 1: Alexander Salazar (Col), Marco Selman (Cl), Martin Navarro (Mex), Oscar Brown (Col)

Groupe 2: Carlos Campino (Col), Angel Villareal (Per), Jose Vega (Mex), Carlos Rodriguez (Col)

Groupe 3: Jose Juan Garcia (Col), Miguel Ormea (Per), Daniel Campos (Mex), Dumar Otalora (Col)

Groupe 4: Julian Torres (Col), Ronald Wong (Per), Gustavo Roque (Arg), Harold Rodriguez (Col)

Groupe 5: Julian Morales (Col), Jorge Rubio (Ecu), Eduardo Perez (Arg), John F Martrínez (Col)

Groupe 6: Maximo Aguirre (Per), Ronald Rubio (Ecu), Adrian Forti (Arg), Harry Reyes (Col)

Grouep 7: Rogelio Morales (CRC), Christopher Tevez (Per), Alberto Paredes (Mex), Vandenver Reina (Col)

Grouep 8: Pedro Reyes (Ecu), Pedro Saavedra (PE), Pacual Cañas (Mex), Steven Uribe (Col)

Groupe 9: Jeferson Troy (Ecu), Daniel Aguilar (Per), Ulises Salinas (Cl), Sergio Granados (Col)

The matches are played to 30 caroms.

The first matches: Jose Juan Garcia (Col)-Angel Villareal (Per), Julian Morales (Col)-Miguel Ormea (Per), Julian Torres (Col)-Ulysses Salinas (Cl), Harry Reyes (Col)-Maximo Aguirre (Per), Steven Uribe (Col)-Daniel Aguilar (Per), Oscar Brown (Col)-Alexander Salazar (Col), Carlos Campino (Col)-Pedro Reyes (Ecu), Cristopher Tevez (Per)-John Martinez (Col).