Efren “Bata” Reyes regarded as the greatest pool player of all time plays Sweden's Marcus Chamat, a frequent Manila visitor and a semi finalist the recent World Pool Championships, in one of eight exciting matches on the opening day of the three-day “On Cue 3: Continental Conquest” tournament featuring sixteen of the finest players in the world at the 4th Floor of Robinson's Galleria Trading Hall, in Metro Manila, Sunday morning.
The 1999 World Pool Champion will be joined by bosom buddy Francisco “Django” Bustamante the 2003 winner of the $50,000 winner-take-all “Challenge of Champions” seeks to send to Japanese ace Satoshi Kawabata to the losers bracket when they meet in another crucial match-up in the double elimination format.
Young Lee Van Corteza who defeated both Reyes and Bustamante to win the Manila leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-ball Tour earlier this year will clash with last year's World Pool Champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany while three-time Tour runner-up Warren Kiamco faces a tough contender in 2001 World Pool Champion Mika “The Iceman” Immonen.
Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan who was recently given dual citizenship which will enable him to represent the Philippines next year on the international circuit will take on Taiwan's Pei-Wei Chang whom he beat in a classic come-from-behind victory at the last World Pool Championships in Chinese-Taipei.
Other matches in the international tournament organized by Puyat Sports and ABS-CBN with a top prize of $10,000 will feature Japan's Kunihiko Takahashi the 1998 World Pool Champion versus youthful Taiwanese sensation Ching-Shun Yang, America's colorful Rodney “The Rocket” Morris the 2003 World Pool League champion faces 15 year old Taiwanese Chia-Ching Wu and two former world champions Ralf “The Kaiser” Souquet and Fong Pang Chao face each other in what could well be a breathtaking encounter between two technically sound players.
