About us
Manizales School Billiard is a private, non-profit sporting recognition, founded in 1995 by Orlando Bastidas Restrepo, dedicated to the formation of three cushion billiard players in the field both male and female at all levels of competitiveness.
From 1996 until 2000 he organized the International Billiards Tournament three-way during the Feria de Manizales, golden age for this tournament, for recognition and quality of participants who attended in those years: Sang Lee, Carlos Hallon, Roberto Rojas, Saul Corro, Ramon Rodriguez, Luis Aveiga, plus players from Spain and nearly all Latin America.
From 2001 to 2005, organized on its premises the Joint Youth Tournament Billiards three cushion, including in the framework of the Fair of Manizales, with youth under age 20 and women regardless of age.
Currently, classes are offered year-round billiard for beginners and experts, individual and group level. Similarly, the school halls are used by different companies in the city, be they public or private, to carry out their domestic tournaments.
Among its facilities are offered for sale billiard accessories for personal use and for businesses that promote the sport. Among the accessories offered the French chalk sticks, which proved to the players to Manizales high quality at low cost. In the case of this product are unique distributors nationwide.
Manizales School Billiard is located in Manizales (Caldas - Colombia), on Calle 18 No. 22-20, telephone 6-8834248.
Its founder Mr. Orlando Bastidas Restrepo, has 35 years experience in the practice of this sport and 15 years of teaching it.
Requiem Sang Chun Lee
The legend say that was the best in the world, he was a womanizer and a gambler, that was lost in the lush corners of Manizales with local women just won the tournament for the fair.
As mild gossip news arrived in Colombia on the life of billiard Sang Chun Lee.
But nobody knew for certain what happened to him. Many fans of pool three bands propagated rumors that warned the bankruptcy of U.S. citizen Korean teacher. Who had given his Carom Cafe Billiards room to his dear friend Michael Kahn to pay him and eventually borrowed money wasted on bets in the millions, and as a desperate, had advanced full weeks in the casinos of Atlantic City and Las Vegas to try to regain some of that effort and had lost everything.
Apart from his various titles as highly competitive athlete Sang Lee's obituary will say that was responsible for the resurgence of the pool to three bands in the United States in the last twenty years, because after the death of legendary New Yorker Willie Hoppe, the difficult discipline of the three bands had occasional good players like George Ashby, Eddie Robbin (author of the most celebrated book in America for advanced billiard, Position Play), Robert Byrne and Carlos Hallon, but never a true master.
When Sang Lee arrived in New York was his dream to "make a beautiful pool hall three bands in America." Shortly thereafter opened SL Billiards with seven tables Verhoeven (the Mercedes Benz of the pool tables) where tournaments are conducted annually with inciting thousands of dollars in prizes, which allowed admire the mastery of the world champions. The SL Billiards witnessed the best time of Torbjorn Blomdahl, Dick Jaspers and the emerging almost on a par with Semith Sayginer and Frederic Caudron, but this would be the owner, Sang Chun Lee, the manager of dazzle to his game to the small and unwary New York fans.
Sang Lee's moves ranged from the most simple and secure even the most virtuous and risky. But the main attraction for its fans, and ultimately, your best weapon on the table, was the rhythm and roll of his coup. In addition, he had a loft knowledge of scoring systems in the table for resolution of carambola, though he virtually Tacaba use, having a photographic memory to identify and decipher the positions.
In the nineties Sang Lee played his best snooker. Surpassed the record of Willie Hoppe twelve times in a row by winning the national championship in the United States, and to establish itself as the world champion of World Snooker Association in 1993. His official number was 21 higher carambola and his personal record (recorded in a local tournament in New York) was 50 caroms in four innings (19, 11, 9, 11). However, the figures never revealed the true character of Lee Sang billiards. Rather, its supporters saw that character when he won games they were about to be lost. In Colombia, particularly the elimination remember that out of the quarterfinals of the teacher Jaime Bedoya in the 2000 World Championships in Bogota, when the country needs to win 3 carambola and 14 to Sang Lee. The Korean-American series and made them qualified to the quarter-finals.
After selling SL Billiards armed the largest pool in the Americas, the Carom Cafe. A spacious place located in the heart of Flushing, NY. now offers 10 tri-band Verhoeven tables, 22 pool tables from Brunswick and Cosmos, 3 Snooker tables Wilhelmina brand free carom and 10 also marks Cosmos. But most important is that is home to the offices of the Billiards Association of America (USBA) and Carom Tournament Corner Group, a core of members who promote the execution of billiards tournaments in the U.S. and the Sang Lee who was the founder and president. The website of the Carom Cafe is dedicated to the memory of Sang Lee and still advertises "class three-way pool on Tuesdays at 4 pm dictated by world champion Sang Lee. Students pay only the time of the table. "
The master died on 19 October 2004, after battling stomach cancer diagnosed few months earlier. For the history of billiards and its titles will be on statistics, but for us, their fans, will be his taste for Custom leading studs glittering Adam, for not wearing gloves, the soles Moori, poker, bowling, movies ninjas, Korean food and his admiration for Raymond Ceulemans. Survivors include his wife Kyung and her daughter Olivia, who plays with three bands in the USBA junior league.
The legend say that was the best in the world, he was a womanizer and a gambler, that was lost in the lush Rinconada de Manizales with locals, just won the tournament of the Fair, who once publicly challenged any billiard Colombian per 100 thousand handycap dollars and half a game (100 to 50) and that no one dared to pick up his challenge. The legend also recall that Sang Chun Lee was genius and figure to the grave.
* Article taken from:
http://www.billarjuvenil.com.ar
Sang Lee playing in the Manizales School Billiard
Sang Lee in the golden age (1996-2000) International Tournament Feria de Manizales
Orlando Bastidas and Sang Lee
Carlos Hallon, Orlando Bastidas and Sang Lee
José Gómez, Orlando Bastidas, Alfonso "Pote Gonzalez" and Jaime Bedoya
