Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante
Last 16 Results
Sweden 8 – 6 Switzerland
Philippines B 8 – 5 India
TWO-TIME PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool winners Philippines B – Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante – comfortably progressed to the last eight of this year's competition following their 8-5 victory over India at the Block Atrium at the SM Mall North in Quezon City, Manila.
The Indian pair of Raj ‘the Hitman' Hundal and Amar ‘AK47' Kang, resplendent in the winning shirts in the ‘best dressed' competition, were once again lead into the arena by a glamourous model scattering rose petals ahead of them.
The crowd always play a part in the success of the Filipino pair but the Indian duo quietened them down considerably as they levelled the match at 4-4. That put all the pressure on the Filipinos, but they responded superbly as they picked up the pace to out play their opponents for the win.
The Indians acquitted themselves well and bearing in mind that Kang had never played on TV before, they were a credit to their nation.
“We got lucky again,” said Reyes, echoing his regular catchphrase but the truth is that there was plenty of skill and shot-making and their likely quarter-final opponents, Germany, will have their hands full on Saturday.
The PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams representing 31 nations – hosts Philippines have two sides. The total prize-fund is $250,000 with $60,000 going to the winning pair.
Earlier, Sweden became the first team through to the quarter-finals in a fantastically entertaining second round match against qualifiers Switzerland. Both teams were shaky at best with Ronni Regli for Switzerland and Thomas Mehtala (Sweden) having particularly torrid times of it.
The final score was 8-6 but that barely told the story of one of the craziest matches in World Cup history. The Swiss team of Regli and the imposing Dimitri Jungo started where they left off following their defeat of defending champions China on Tuesday, as they moved into a 4-0 lead.
The Swedes though, took the next four to level the score at 4-4 and they share the next two to make the score 5-5. Sweden, who looked dead and buried, won the next two after both sides had chances following some errors and they were on the hill.
The next rack was the last and what an amazing rack it was. Regli first missed the 4-ball, then Mehtala left Chamat in a shocking position with hampered cueing and Chamat produced a heroic effort to get Sweden back on course.
His partner though missed a straight-forward 6-ball but Regli couldn't take his second chance as he missed the 7-ball and almost walked out of the arena in disgust.
Dimitri Jungo, who had been excellent throughout, put a comforting arm round Regli's shoulder as the Swiss-Filipino felt the heat. Chamat pocketed the 8-ball and started dancing as he sensed victory.
Mehtala, who looked a bag of nerves in the latter stages of this match, stayed strong when he needed to and downed a simple the 9-ball for the win.
"It was an amazing game. I've played so many games over years and that's one of the worst games I've been involved in!” said a delighted Chamat.
"I will always remember this game, just like I remember the Mosconi Cup games. You have to show a lot of heart and dig deep down but it wasn't about pool, it was about seeing straight."
The 2011 World Cup of Pool is sponsored by PartyPoker.net, the world's leading online poker school. Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis, Super Aramith balls by Saluc, tables by Star Xing Pai and the Official Cue is Predator.
Results to date – Round One
Chinese Taipei 8 – 4 Russia
Italy 8 – 6 Hong Kong
Singapore 8 – 7 USA
Philippines A 8 – 2 Austria
Estonia 8 – 6 England
Thailand 8 – 4 Holland
Germany 8 – 0 Australia
Malaysia 8 – 6 France
India 8 – 7 Finland
Philippines B 8 – 4 Kuwait
Korea 8 – 5 Spain
Japan 8 – 3 Croatia
Switzerland 8 – 5 China
Sweden 8 – 7 Indonesia
