February 29, 2004, Singapore . . . The Singapore leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour 2004 ended today with Efren “Bata” Reyes bagged home with US$10,000 after beating his compatriot Warren Kiamco 11-4 at Pool Haven in Clarke Quay.
Warren Kiamco staged an incredible comeback in this morning's quarter-final when he overcame a 2-7 deficit to beat Young-Hwa Jeong of Korea by 9-8 and made his third consecutive semi-final appearance in the Tour.
Kiamco then met the “giant killer” Alok Kumar in the semi-final. Possessed with accurate pocketing and capitalized on a few mistakes of Kiamco, Kumar managed to tie with Kiamco in the early racks. But then Kiamco found his touch and took seven racks in a row. Though Kumar took the 14th rack but Kiamco never turned back and won 11-4 to make his third consecutive final appearance in the Tour.
Though survived in two 9-8 thrillers in the early rounds, Ching-Shun Yang still bowed out in quarter-final when he lost 7-9 in an all-Chinese Taipei clash against Huang-Wu Chen. Chen came back from 2-6 and sent the defending champion home.
But Chen failed to extend Chinese Taipei's dominance in the Singapore leg. “The Crying Killer” was left crying when he faced the Magician in the semi-final. Reyes began the game with a 3-0 but Chen managed to trail by two racks behind Reyes. However, his cueball pocketed in his break in the 18th rack and Reyes took the chance to finish the game by 11-7.
Reyes then met Warren Kiamco in a re-match of last year's Philippine leg final when Reyes won by 11-2. Though Kiamco beat Reyes once in the SEA Games 9-Ball final back in 2001, it is not the night for him to take revenge. Reyes led throughout the game and took his second San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour title by beating Kiamco 11-4.
The Tour provides opportunity for the 32 participating players to garner qualifying points towards the World Pool Championships in July. The Tour is the only ranking tour in Asia for players to qualify to the World Pool Championships. The Tour will then travel to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam from March 13-14.
For all information on the Tour, please log on to www.asian9-balltour.com. For the latest schedules and program information on ESPN STAR Sports, catch us on the net at www.espnstar.com
Sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union, the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour is organized by ESPN STAR Sports' Event Management Group (EMG). San Miguel Beer is the title sponsor for the Tour. Iwan Simonis and Aramith supply the official tablecloth and official balls respectively. STAR Sports is the official broadcaster. The 2004 Tour have five legs in Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Taipei and Manila. Besides total prize money of US$250,000, top 10 on the Tour Order of Merit every year will directly qualify into the World Pool Championships. San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour in 2004 travels around Singapore (February 28-29), Ho Chi Minh City (March 13-14), Hong Kong (April 17-18), Taipei (May 7-9) and Manila (May 29-30). The main draw includes 32 top Asian players from over 10 countries/ regions.
