Raya Sports: Reaching for Pool’s Full Potential
Raya Sports and Events is the Philippine organizing group and franchise holder of the WPA World Ten Ball Championship (WTBC) and the Philippine Open Pool Championships (Phil Open).
Since its launch in Manila on September – October 2008, the company has organized the following major pool events and tournaments:
- The 2006 and 2007 World 9-Ball Championship
- The inaugural World 10-Ball Championship in Manila in 2008
- The 2009 World 10-Ball Championship
- The inaugural Philippine Open Championship in 2009
- The Philippine Pool Tour consisting of the following:
- The Mandaluyong C ity Mayor’s Cup
- The Puerto Pincesa Mayor’s Cup
- The Subic-Olongapo Mayor’s Cup
- The annual Philippine National Pool Championship from 2006 to the present
Through its various promotional endeavors and events, Raya, in cooperation with the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines and through the exploits of Filipino pool players, has succeeded in establishing the Philippines as “the pool capital of the world”, — a distinction first conferred on the country by Billiards Digest, the leading international magazine on pool sports. The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), the world governing body for pool, has also described the Philippines as “the Mecca of Pool.”
Raya is a branded division of Prism Strategic Communications, a company engaged in communications management, events management and promotions, policy research and publishing. The division manages and promotes sports, business and entertainment events in the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2011, the company intends to expand its program to fulfill its mission of “enabling pool to achieve its full potential as a global sport and as a vehicle for individual sports excellence”
Historic Firsts
Though a very young sports organization, Raya Sports has already recorded some major historic firsts in pool sports.
1. On 4-12 November 2006, Raya brought the WPA 9-ball Championship for the first time to the Philippines. The event was held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). This served as just the beginning of the company’s engagement in international and national pool championship events.
2. In December 2007, following two successful stagings of the W9ballPC, Raya won the franchise and sanction of the WPA World Ten Ball Championship (WTBC) for a period of five years, renewable for an additional three years. It subsequently staged the inaugural WTBC at the Philippine International Convention Center on September 29-October 5 – a historic championship which saw the successful introduction of ten ball on the global stage with 47 countries participating, and the equally historic emergence of top female players as the equal of male players in top-flight competition.
3. In cooperation with the BSCP, Raya also pioneered in the establishment of annual Philippine championships for men, women and junior players. Prior to the launching of the national tournaments in 2006, the country had hitherto not held a single official national pool championship.
After eight official events (three for men and women, and two for juniors), the national championships have become a veritable institution in Philippine pool. And they have served as a major component in the official ranking of Filipino players in various categories.
Game-changer in Pool Sports
Raya Sports has earned a reputation as a “game-changer” in sports because of the various innovations and trail-blazing policies that it has championed and introduced into the management and promotion of pool.
With its chairman Yen Makabenta in the lead, Raya has been the prime mover in the promotion and adoption of 10-ball as a competitive game. It successfully lobbied the WPA for the adoption of 10-ball as a new and separate discipline in pool. The world’s pool governing body issued official rules for the game early in 2008, and announced the holding of the first WPA World !0-Ball Championship in the Philippine. When Raya successfully staged the WTBC in September-October 2008 before a worldwide TV audience, the game proved its worth many times over. The players and audiences loved it and declared it superior to other pool games. No single championship tournament, according to pool experts, recorded as many hill-hill matches as the inaugural WTBC.
In promoting pool, Raya has been equally an innovator. Noting that historically beer and cigarettes were the only sponsors of pool events and that cigarette advertising was now banned in print and TV, the company embarked on a program to widen the sponsorship base for the sport. In three years, it has successfully attracted the following new categories of supporters of pool:
- national tourism agencies
- gaming and entertainment companies
- airlines
- telephone companies
- banks and financial institutions
- pharmaceuticals
- real estate developers
- appliance manufacturers
In 2008, Raya also launched a new program: the establishment of the Philippine Pool Tour, which consists of international pool tournaments in strategic cities in the country.
The tour seeks to marry international pool competition with tourism in the Philippines. Since 2008, three PPT legs have been successfully launched in Mandaluyong City, Subic-Olongapo City and Puerto Princesa City in Palawan province.
National and International TV Coverage
Raya has also pioneered in integrating TV coverage
With the championship tournaments it organizes. Since 2006, Raya events have enjoyed full TV coverage and broadcast by ESPN all over Asia and by a leading free-TV network in the Philippines.
Starting in 2011, Raya is partnering with the Associated Broadcasting Company in the Philippines (TV5 and Channel 41) in the coverage and broadcast of its major international pool tournaments.
Management
The Raya organization is led by Yen Makabenta as chairman and CEO and JP Fenix as President.
For the successful debut of the WPC in Manila in 2006, Mr. Makabenta was cited as “Man of the Year” by Billiards Digest.
The other members of the board are:
- Jose Pablo Fenix, director and president
- Jonathan de la Cruz, director
- Neny Regino, director
- Rene Bas, director
- Maribel Dario, director
To implement its innovative sports management and promotions program, Raya maintains key units in the following areas:
• Event management
• Sports marketing
• Media rights distribution
• Licensing and merchandise development
• Public relations
Raya holds office at the 5th floor of the PDAF Building on Gil Puyat Ave., Makati City, 1200 Philippines. Its contact numbers are tel. 8952021 and 8909666, fax 8958184, and email at raya@prismphil.com.
It maintains an official website: rayasports.com
