Carom
SANTIAGO - The 32-year-old Javier Teran from Ecuador defends his title in the Pan American championships this week. The 22nd confederation championship is played in the Billiards and Coffee Club Billard Nunoa in Santiago, Chile. Ten countries will compete for the individual titles, the team titles and the medals for youth players.
Javier Teran won the title last year in the final against Maximo Aguirre from Peru. The other players in the top five were Raymundo Munoz (Mexico), Carlos Campino (Colombia) and Javier Vera Solis (Mexico).
The Mexicans are not allowed to participate this year: they are excluded due to the punishment of the UMB, after Mexico cancelled a World Cup last year.
Most players in the Panamericans now come from Colombia (twenty) and Chile (eighteen). The contenders for winning the title are amongst others Julian and Daniel Morales, Henry Diaz, who last year played the highest average with 1.420 and Alexander Salazar (Colombia), Javier Teran from Ecuador, Daniel Reyes and Romero Merlin from Venezuela.
The qualification that will lead to the eighth finals has been started already. Robinson Morales played one of the better matches so far with 1.875 average, Arley Galeano has already advanced for the eighth finals with matches of 2.000 and 1.154 and Julian Morales with 1.765 and 1.429.
The group leaders are Robinson Morales (Colombia), Julian Morales (Colombia), Carlos Villegas (Colombia), Alexander Salazar (Colombia), George Reyes (Colombia), Henry Diaz (Colombia), Carloman Ortiz (Colombia), Oscar Ticona (Bolivia) Oscar Pachas (Peru), Guido Saco (Peru) and Arley Galeano (Colombia).
The team championship is played with seven countries, totaling seventeen pairs to start:
Chile: Sobarzo/Carvajal, Toro/Diaz, Ostos/Miranda, Riffo/Guerra.
Venezuela: Reyes/Labrador, Romero/M. Canton, Villanueva/G. Canton
Bolivia: Alvarez/Cabrera, Crispin/Cartagena, Ticona/Herrera
Colombia: J. Morales/Ortiz, Castano/H. Diaz, Naranjo/Campino
Peru: Saco/Pachas, Tevez/Salazar
Ecuador: Teran/Rubio
Panama: G. Patino/Nunez.
The youth tournament will be held with 7 players: two from Chile, three from Ecuador, one from Venezuela, one from Colombia.
The tournament lasts until May 8.