3-Cushion
ARMENIA - The Armenia Clidad Cup with many famous Colombian players at the start is won by Pedro Gonzalez. The number one of the Latinos showed his class in the final against Victor Olarte, with set scores 12-6 in 8, 12-8 in 8 and 12-10 in 15. In the semis, Gonzalez was in a disputed and not too friendly match the boss over Julian Morales. Olarte defeated Jaime Montoya.
The game format was attractive for the audience: matches were played to short sets of 12 points with a 40-second shot clock. The result: spectacular and exciting matches in which the Colombians little by little regained their level.
Gonzalez started his hard way to the top by beating Jairo Garcia in the round of 64, Heriberto Aristizabal in the 32, Miguel Romero in the 16, Arley Salazar in the quarter-finals and Julian Morales in the semi-finals.
Julian Morales commented after that match, which was a tough test for the referees at times: ''The balance of the tournament was really positive. The level was again close to the best Colombian matches. I must say that some gestures made me uncomfortable when I played with Pedro Gonzalez, but I think they are a product of nervousness. We all want to win, it's just that some of us feel it more than others.'' So said Julian Morales, organiser and medallist in a candid interview.
About a hundred players participated in the matches. The qualifications were played in 3 sets won, from the round of 64 the distance was increased to five sets.
The social media spoke extensively about the sensational come-back of Alejandro Piza, who is one of the most notable players in Colombian billiards and has been away from the circuit for three years. Some fans call him 'a machine gun', clearly because of his speed and effectiveness with the cue. Piza became famous by his tours in Mexico, but especially when he beat Spaniard David Zapata (PBA champion) several times in the individual challenges in the Medellin tournament.
The history of Pan American junior champions shows that Piza dominated all his competitors in South America and only relinquished his throne to Cataño when the age limit no longer allowed him to compete in this category. Huberney Cataño applied the same formula to JJ García during his hegemony.
The final ranking and average of the first eight players:
1. Pedro Gonzalez 1,348
2. Victor Olarte 1,037
3. Jaime Montoya 1,100
4. Julian Morales 1,159
5. Alejandro Piza 1,159
6. Jesús Jiménez 1,014
7. Huberney Cataño 1,341
8. Arley Salazar 1,215
The best average was made by Luis Martinez with 1,412, who finished in ninth place after losing the last game to Jaime Montoya.
Alejandro Piza is back in business