Django's win a realization of a lifetime dream
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 09 Jul 2010
For a high school dropout Francisco ?Django? Bustamante, winning the World Pool Championship (9-Ball) is a long-time dream he had been waiting fulfilled from the time he played his first billiards game at a tender age of 12.
?Yeah, It?s been a lifetime dream that I had nurtured simula noong kaunaunahang humawak ako ng tako,? the 47 year-old town mate of newly-elected President Benigno ?Nonoy? Aquino III told this writer in an interview a day after he arrived in Manila from Doha, Qatar, where he became the seventh Filipino to win a world pool title.
"Napakasaya, siyempre lalo na't ang isa sa mga natanggap kong pagbati ay galing mismo sa aking kababayang Presidente Nonoy," he said with a spark in his eyes.
Django was referring to a text message he received from P-Noy a day after downing Ku Po-cheng of Taiwan in a lopsided 13-7 decision Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
"Hindi ko nga binubura at hindi ko talaga buburahin. Para bang naka-double whammy ako. Nanalo na ako ng world championship for the first time. Tapos binati pa ako ng Presidente mismo," he added, showing P-Noy's message which reads: "Si Noynoy Aquino ito na bumabati sa iyo sa tagumpay mo at karangalan idinulot sa bansa."
"From one bilyarista to another biyasrista," he said when informed that P-Noy is rabid billiards player who plays the game regularly as his means of relaxation.
Django confessed he barely finished first year high school in his native Tarlac City before deciding to forego schooling and concentrate on billiards where he showed exemplary brilliance when he was not even a teenager.
"Magaling ako noon pa at 1975 pa halos hindi nanatatalo sa aming lugar (Barangay Maliwalu) kaya naglibot ako, una sa buong Luzon tapos sa buong bansa na para lamang Kumita ng pera," he recalled.
His brilliance in the game bought him to Hamburg in Germany where he stayed for 12 years doing nothing but play his favorite game dominating his opponents in the European circuit scoring victory after another that afforded him to live like a king in a country far away from home.
By year 2002, he was already in the United States giving the likes of American legends Johnny Archer and Earl Strickland a hell of a life in every billiards nook they met in the land of sweet and honey, in Canada and elsewhere in Asia.
His victory in Qatar earned for him $34,000 of the total $250,000 at stake, not his biggest purse in his career, he admitted but what made him very happy, he stressed but what made the feat sweeter is that, once again, he succeeded in proving to the entire world what stuff the Filipinos are made of in the sport of billiard, heroics, his countrymen before him -- Player of the Decade Efren"Bata" Reyes, Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat, Jose "Amang" Parica, Ronnie Alcano, Alex Pagulayan and even lady artist Rubelin Amit -- had shown.
"Minsan pa ay napatunayan natin na dito sa larong bilyar puedeng mag-world champion ang Pilipino.
His only wish for the youth is: "Maglaro kayo ng bilyar. Sundin ninyo ang gusto ninyo. Pero, pakiusap, huwag kalimutan ang pag-a-aral. Huwag ninyo akong tularan. Sinuwerte lang ako at nananalo. Pero mas mahalaga ang kayo ay makatapos ng pag-a-aral dahil mas madali ang trabaho kapag nakatapos ka."
Django said that much as he would like to earn a slot in the Philippine team that is bound for this year's Guangzhou Asian Games, he would not like to push himself in fairness to those who made it by qualifying in a series of tryouts conducted by the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines.
"Na-eliminate ako sa qualifying tournament eh. Pero kahit anong ipagawa nila sa akin basta nasa team ako, payag ako. Kahit taga-dalay lang ng tuwalya.okey sa akin, " he said.
To which Reyes, the playing-coach, butted in: "Isasama namin siya sa team kahit reserve. Malaki ang maitutulong niya para tayo manalo ng as many gold medal as we want,"
BSCP president Bong Ilagan, another Tarlaqueno, agreed, saying:"kahit na ka-praktis lang ng miyembro ng team, puede si Django at pakikinabangan.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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