Efren “Bata” Reyes played a scrappy game of pool and banked on fewer unforced errors to beat Sweden's Marcos Chamat 9-4 to move into the second round of the “On Cue 3,:Continental Conquest” at the 4th Floor, Trade Hall of Robinson's Galleria yesterday. Reyes was scheduled to meet Taiwanese sensation Ching Shun Yang, two time gold medal winner at the Asian Games in the next round. Reyes was joined in the win column by bosom friend Francisco "Django" Bustamante who whipped Japanese ace Satoshi Kawabata 9-6 and will next play another Taiwanese hotshot, 2000 World Pool Champion Fong Pang Chao, nicknamed "The Cool Killer" who beat European ace Ralf Souquet 9-6.
Reyes, the 1999 Cardiff World Pool Champion broke away from a 4-4 tie after Chamat, a semi finalist in the recent World Pool Championship in Taipei had a “golden break” in the second rack when he buried the 9-ball on the break, stringing together five racks in a row to defeat the popular Swede who is a regular Manila vistor. Yang had no trouble in defeating Japan's Kunihiko Takahashi 9-4.
Lee Van Corteza, who stunned both Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante to win the Manila leg of the last San Miguel Asian 9-ball Tour won a hill-hill encounter with last year's World Pool Champion Thorsten Hohmann, handling the pressure well in the nerve-wracking endgame to win 9-8 where he will battle 2004 World Pool Champion Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan in the second round of the double round elimination race to nine with the alternate break format.
Pagulayan who represents Canada on the international circuit recently re-assumed his Filipino citizenship under the provisions of the law on dual citizenship and will represent the Philippines beginning next year repeated his Taipei conquest of Taiwanese star Pei-Wei Chang in the World Pool Championship finals with a 9-1 rout. Chang and the other Taiwanese players with the exception of Fong Pang Chao haven't played well in recent weeks failing to win a single match in the Philippines-Taiwan dual meet earlier this week which was won by the Filipinos despite the absence of the big names in Philippine pool.
Reyes began to pull away in his match against Chamat when he consummated a 2-6 combo to move ahead 7-4 as the little Swede nicknamed “Napoleon” scratched on the very next rack when he attempted a delicate safety on the 2-ball and Reyes cleaned up to go to the hill 8-4. Chamat's woes continued after Reyes pocketed two balls on the break but saw the cue ball slowly drop into the pocket allowing Chamat a chanc to come back with ball in hand. But he undercut a fairly straightforward shot on the 7-ball and Reyes pounced on the mistake to put Chamat away 9-4, sending him to the losers bracket where he will face Takahashi.
Chia Ching Wu, the 15 year old Taiwanese with a huge future ahead of him proved pool patron Aristeo "Putch" Puyat right when he invited the youngster to the top-class competition. Wu, a lefty, shocked American Rodney "The Rocket" Morris 9-3 and will meet 2001 World Pool Champion Mika "The Iceman" Immonen who had no trouble in beating Warren Kiamco 9-5.
