filipino crowned world pool champion

He was one of 21 Filipinos competing in the World Pool Championship, which was held for the very first time in the Philippines, but Ronato Alcano was practically unheralded, lost in the shadows as the spotlight was on the big guns of Filipino pool, Efren Reyes (the 1999 champ), Francisco Bustamante (2002 runner-up), and Alex Pagulayan (2004 champ).

Now this was a true underdog story, and in the final against a former world champion, Germany’s Ralf Souquet (who was champ in 1996 and the runner-up in 2001, losing to Finland’s Mika Immonen), Ronnie shocked the world even more by completely dominating the Kaiser en route to a 17-11 victory.

Relive the glory in this clip of Alcano’s winning shot.

I had goosebumps watching the match on TV yesterday, and I’m so proud of Ronnie Alcano. I felt bad for Souquet, and the predominantly Filipino crowd, though naturally rooting for Alcano, was full of respect and admiration for the great German player, who has over the years proven himself to be one of the nicest as well as greatest pool champions in the world. It’s in stark contrast to the boorish behavior of Earl Strickland.

I was shocked to see the usually stoic Souquet in tears as he talked about how much he wanted to win the championship in the Philippines, and it was heartening to hear the crowd chanting, “Souquet, Souquet” in a show of support for the defeated German. See this clip of the award ceremony.

Here’s to you, Ronnie. You’ve made us all proud.

By the way, I’ve noticed that Ronnie Alcano doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry yet — maybe somebody could remedy that?