The Sharks Billiards Association (SBA) is a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle o ...

league in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

consisting of four teams. The league's games are played at Sharks Arena, an indoor venue located at

Tomas Morato Avenue Tomas Morato Avenue is a street located in Quezon City within the Diliman and New Manila areas of northeastern Metro Manila, Philippines. The street links Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. Avenue in the village of Mariana in the south with Eugenio Lopez Dr ...

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

History

As the Sharks Billiard League

The Sharks Billiards Association was originally established in

as the Sharks Billiards League (SBL) by Hadley Mariano in partnership with the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP). It was founded in November 2022 by billiards promoter Perry Mariano and sports patrons Putch Puyat, Isaac Belmonte and Jonathan Sy of BMPAP, and new officials Mon Aguirre, Larry Lim, Hadley Mariano, Jojo Sanchez, and Eric Salud. With United Kingdom-based Matchroom, the SBL organized the 2023 Sharks International Open at the Great White Arena in

. It was won by Taiwanese player Ko Ping-chung.

Foundation of a professional league

On May 6, 2024, the league was renamed the Sharks Billiards Association (SBA). It also now accredited by the

Games and Amusements Board The Games and Amusements Board (GAB; ) is the government-run regulatory body of professional sports in the Philippines. History The Games and Amusements Board initially started its operation in 1951 with the issuance of Executive Order No. 392 ...

. Sports columnist Chino Trinidad was the league's inaugural commissioner until his death on July 13, 2024. On August 18, 2024, the league had its inaugural draft at Gateway Mall in

. Jericho Bañares was selected by the Quezon City Dragons with the first pick. The inaugural champions are the Taguig Stallions who won three of their five games against Manila MSW Mavericks in the finals series. In April 2025, the SBA secured a partnership with

People's Television Network People's Television Network (; abbreviated PTV) is the flagship State broadcasting, state broadcaster owned by the Government of the Philippines. Founded in 1974, PTV is the main brand of People's Television Network, Inc. (PTNI), one of the att ...

as they launch the 2025 Philippine Open. The 2025 draft is scheduled to take place on July 29, 2025 and the second season proper in September 2025.

Teams

Format

Game structure

Each game consists of five nine-ball matches spread across a five-day period, each with a different format. * King of the Hill (5v5) – Each team will nominate one player to begin the match. Once a rack is completed, the losing team will send another player for the next rack. Once all five players have played, referred to as a "cycle", all players can be nominated to play again. The first team to score 15 racks wins and earns five points. * Doubles (2v2) – Each team will nominate two players to begin the match. Once a rack is completed, the losing team will send another two players for the next rack. The first team to score 13 racks wins and earns five points. * Singles (1v1) – Each team will nominate a player that will play the entire match. The first player to score 13 racks wins and earns three points for his team. Each team is required to send one player to a singles match once during the season before nominating them again.

Sharking

During the games, players may

trash talk Trash talk is a form of spoken insult usually found in sports events, although it is not exclusive to sports or similarly characterized events. It is often used to intimidate the opposition and/or make them less confident in their ability to wi ...

their opponents, known as "sharking", before the shooter gets in a shooting stance.

Championships

Commissioners

* Chino Trinidad (–) * Hadley Mariano

References

External links

* {{Sports leagues in the Philippines 2024 establishments in the Philippines Cue sports in the Philippines Pool competitions Sport in Quezon City Sports leagues established in 2024