Bata, Django – first World Pool doubles champions
Posted on September 6th, 2009
The Philippines is top again in world billiards, and who else can bring this glory to the country but the biggest names in Philippine billiards. The team of Efren “Bata†Reyes and Francisco “Django†Bustamante escaped with the championship with an 11-9 triumph over Germany’s Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann in the finals of the PartyCasino.Net World Cup of Pool in Quezon City last Sunday night.
Reyes and Bustamante became the first double-champion of the tournament. They zoomed to an early lead, floundered midway, but gained back their rhythm and won five of the last six racks.
They first stormed to a 3-0 advantage where two capitalized on two errors of the Germans, including Hohmann’s miss on the brown 7 in the second rack and Souquet’s poor counter-safety on the blue 2 in the next frame.
Reyes still showcased his magic touch, while Bustamante showed his precision in his pocketing in what could be one of the most thrilling encounters in World Cup history.
But as the breaks of the game would go, Reyes and Bustamante had their share of blunders on the eighth and ninth racks. Django misfired on an easy shot on the brown 7 while Bata rattled out the green 6.
A loud roar reverberated throughout the jampacked SM City North Annex when Reyes finally pocketed the 9 ball that would clinch the win for the Filipino pool legends.
Bustamante said, “Although we are old, we are still winning.†Reyes thanks all who came in to watch and show their support. The billiard legends won the $60,000 purse in the four-day tournament which ended a string of disappointing results in the past two years.
