USBA To Send Four To Pan American Championship
The USBA will send four American players to vie for the Three-Cushion Pan American Championship (PAC) in Cali, Colombia in June.
Led by six-time US champion and former Pan American champion Pedro Piedrabuena, the United States contingent also includes Hugo Patiño, Mazin Shooni and Michael Kang. Piedrabuena owns College Billiards in San Diego. He won the Pan American Championship in 2009.
Patiño finished second in the 2013 nationals, and won the crown in 2003 and 2009. A Colombia-native, Patiño has lived in the United States for nearly two decades. He recently became a US citizen. The Pan American Championship presents the first time he will return to his native country to compete as a US Citizen.
Shooni is the 2006 national champion and the 2012 runner up. The owner of Amazin Billiards, in Malden, Massachusetts, Shooni was also the runner up two other times. He is the holder of the American record for the highest run in a national tournament, scoring 18 in a row in the final game on route to his championship.
Kang is the owner of Carom Café in Flushing, New York. He has placed several times in the USBA nationals, including a second place finish in 2000 and another one in 2007. He is a veteran and always dangerous player who has represented the United States in several world championships.
The four players will compete in the individual championship, which begins on June 25. They will also compete in the team competition.