Manalo Defeats Morris in IPT Challenge

The IPT’s Ultimate 8-Ball “East vs. West II” challenge match was won by Marlon Manalo of the Philippines. Manalo bested Rodney Morris (USA) by a final score or 15-10. Morris had an early lead in the match, but the turning point for him seemed to be an easy miss on an eight ball. When asked after the match about that shot, Morris admitted that he probably didn’t give it as much concentration as he should have. After that point, Manalo saw his chance and dominated the remainder of the match, despite not breaking as well as he usually does. Manalo, when asked about the match, claimed that he was “lucky” to win the match.

The studio audience for the match included Hall of Fame member Robin Dodson, former female pro Jan McWorter and her award-winning custom cue stick maker husband Jerry McWorter, and IPT Pro Raj Hundal. Audience members were treated to a dramatic match that had its fair share of fantastic shots as well as a few easy misses. The match is available now for free viewing on the IPT web site www.internationalpooltour.com. The IPT encourages viewers to watch the match; there is absolutely no cost to watch this match through the end of March. Starting April 1, the match will go into the Premium Member video library.

Sponsors for this match included Master Rack, Diamond Billiard Products, Incentives International, LEANI Slate, Laser Stroke, Hustlin USA, Extreme Focus, Billiardcue.com, Kevin Trudeau’s: “Natural Cures ‘they don’t want you to know about,’” “More Natural Cures Revealed,” “The Weight Loss Cure ‘they don’t want you to know about,’” & “The Debt Cure ‘they don’t want you to know about.’”
The next challenge match in the IPT Ultimate 8-Ball series will be broadcast live, April 29th, 2008. This is one day earlier than what was announced on this last broadcast due to a unknown conflict at the studio at the time of the announcement. The players for the next match are unknown at the time and will be chosen by pool fans world-wide through free online voting at www.internationalpooltour.com. Voting starts Monday, March 10, 2008. An announcement will be made with voting details on Friday, March 7th.