RP ?B? TEAM OF REYES, BUSTAMANTE BRING A- GAME TO OUST HONGKONG
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 05 Sep 2012
Crowd favorites Efren ?Bata? Reyes and Franisco ?Django? Bustamante who make up the Philippines ?B? Team brought their A-game to the table this evening to whip Hong Long 8-3 in the PartyPoker. Net ?World Cup of Pool? at Robinson?s in Manila and set up a mouth-watering showdown with Alex ?The Lion? Pagulayan and John Morra of Canada on Thursday.
Reyes played some magical shots while Bustamante pocketed the balls with precision against Lee Chenmen and Kenny Kwok who didn?t play badly but unfortunately ran into the two-time winners of this event on a good night.
Bustamante told the Manila Standard on the eve of the tournament that he and his longtime buddy Reyes had been practicing well and that Reyes was making some remarkable shots which he effectively repeated before a huge crowd that jumped to its feet with a roar once the 9-ball was pocketed.
Hong Kong won the lag before play was held up as someone in the audience using a flash bothered Reyes before referee Nigel Rees issued a warning to spectators not to use a flash when taking pictures.
Reyes cooled down and the Filipinos took the opening rack before an excellent safety by Reyes enabled them to go ahead 2-0 before Reyes scratched on the break and Hong Kong pulled one back to make it 2-1.
Another remarkable safety by Reyes paved the way for a 3-1 lead before Bustamante sank three balls on the break and Reyes played another fantastic safety and after Kwok missed a shot on the 2-ball the Philippine ?B? team with ball in hand raced to a 4-1 lead.
Reyes followed with a great bank shot on the 2, then played another superb safety and a exquisite cut shot by Bustamante sent the Filipinos up by a comfortable 5-1 margin.
Hong Kong claimed a second rack after a dry break by Bustamante to make it 5-2 before Lee Chenman missed a 6-9 combination that allowed the Philippines to open up a four rack lead at 6-2.
Time pressure after a Bustamante push-out and Reyes? incredible cue ball control pushed the Philippines on the hill 7-2. A miss by Reyes on a long shot on the 1-ball enabled Hong Kong to pull another rack back at 7-3 but when Lee Chenmen came up dry on his break a near flawless cross bank shot on the 1-ball by Reyes sealed the deal and sent the Philippines ?B? Team into the next round when they face a tough Canadian pair of Pagulayan who plays for Canada alongside talented John Morra.
Earlier, Matchroom Sport executive Luke Riches reported on two dramatic hill-hill matches.
First the Canadian team of transplanted Filipino Alex Pagulayan and John Morra snatched it out the bag against Sweden and the USA, trailing throughout against India reversed the arrears in the home stretch to steal the win.
It was Raj Hundal and Amar Kang who looked a steady ship as they came in as under dogs against their more titled opponents. They lead 1-0, 2-1, 4-2 and 5-4 before the US pair took stock of the situation and shot into a 6-5 lead.
Morris thought he had put his team on the hill with a golden break but looked crestfallen when the referee Nigel Rees ruled it a foul break when the requisite number of balls failed to cross the head string. Both sides had chances at the final 9 before Kang downed it to level things.
Both teams then had disastrous breaks; Van Boening delivered a dry one and India cleared, and then Kang downed two balls but the third didn?t play ball and the Americans took the rack for hill-hill.
India had a chance but in the end it was a missed 3 ball from Hundal that proved their undoing and the American pair won and now face Austria in the next round.
The Swedish pair of Marcus Chamat and Andreas Gerwen were similar victims as they succumbed at the final hurdle to Canada?s John Morra and Alex Pagulayan ? the 2004 World Pool Champion.
The Swedes trailed 7-4 and looked in dire straits but clawed their way back and even included a Chamat golden break!
At 7-7 and breaking they were suddenly favorites but the rack descended into a safety battle before the Canadians found a way through and ran out for victory.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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