May 29, 2004, Manila: Francisco Bustamante will make his first semi-final appearance in the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour since 2003 Singapore leg and he will bid for his first Asian Tour title tomorrow. STAR Sports will bring all the breaks and shots LIVE at 14:00, May 30 (Manila/ Hong Kong/ Singapore time).
Francisco Bustamante sweated after his 9-8 win against his compatriot Warren Kiamco. Kiamco took an early lead but the game became a tight one with both players cleaning the table four times each and they tied seven times until 8-8. Django did not have a ball-in in his break and both players had a miss in pocketing no.3. But it was Django who kissed the no.9 in with a no.7 to finish the 90-minute clash. And he was so excited to cry out, ”There it is!” when the no.9 ball is moving towards the pocket.
Django the cue master will meet the 15-year-old rising star Chia Ching Wu in the semi-final. Wu was 0-1 down in his game with Shin Young Park but it was the only time that he was trailing. He then took six racks in a row to make it 6-1. Afterwards, pressure started to have a negative impact on the boy from Taipei County and he conceded two racks in a row. However, he showed his quality in the 13th rack and made the way for his first semi-final appearance in the Tour by beating Park 9-4.
Taipei leg runner-up Young Hwa Jeong made consecutive semi-final appearance in the Tour after beating Nguyen Thanh Nam 9-7 in the first quarter-final. Both players were playing under pressure and made 11 pocketing mistakes in total. But the world number nine Korean player managed to hold his nerve and ended Nguyen's dream of being the first Vietnamese player in the semis of the Tour.
Lee Van Corteza became the third player to beat Efren Reyes in the Asian Tour. Corteza led throughout the game but the Magician still came back from 6-8 and both sides tied at 8-8. However, it's Corteza who smiled at last and booked the last berth in the semi-final by beating Reyes 9-8. He will be meeting Young Hwa Jeong in the semis.
Earlier today, Reyes had a flawless game against Fong Pang Chao and beat the Chinese Taipei cue master 9-7 in this clash of former world champions. The Magician did not give Chao much opportunity as he cleaned the table five times in the game. Chao also had a good game but had to bow out again after his defeat in the final of Ho Chi Minh City leg.
The Manila leg is the last chance for the 32 participating players to garner qualifying points towards the World Pool Championships in July. After the Manila leg, the top 10 on the Tour Order of Merit will directly qualify into the World Pool Championships. The Tour is the only ranking tour in Asia for players to qualify to the Championships.
Adding to the stakes is the total prize money purse of US$250,000 up for grabs on this regional tour which started in Singapore (February 28-29) and features subsequent stops in Ho Chi Minh City (March 13-14), Hong Kong (April 17-18), Taipei (May 7-9) and Manila (May 28-30). The main draw includes 32 top Asian players from 12 countries/ regions.
