Americans with twenty for the titel in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS - Hugo Patino, Pedro Piedrabuena and Frank Torres, the top three in the USBA rankings, are the big contenders in the championship of the American federation. Piedrabuena defends his title. The tournament is played at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. Tomorrow (Thursday) are the final matches.

The championship is so far advanced that twenty players have qualified for four groups of five, from which eight players qualify for the quarterfinals. The twenty players in the final round meet eachother in the groups and play to 30 caroms. The two group winners advance for the quarter finals.

The four groups are:
Group A: Mazin Shooni, Thanh Vu, Hugo Patino, Joe DeAmato and Gary Elias.
Group B: Sonny Cho, Pedro Piedrabuena, Peter Banyai, Gary Cohen and Ricardo Cruz.
Group C: Miguel Torres, Jae Hyung Cho, Jim Henrickson, Victor Cuzzi and Tom Rossman.
Group D: Frank Torres, Fred Lamers, Khalie Diab, Michael Kang and Cong Thanh Nguyen.