Billiard

Reyes, Bustamante, Orcollo banner Philippines bid in World Cup of Pool bid

The prestigious and tough Partypoker.net World Cup of Pool returns to Manila on Sept. 7-12 with Filipino pool icons Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante leading the way for the country’s bid alongside the pair of Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo and Roberto “Pinoy Superman” Gomez.

Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP) founder Ceferino “Perry” Mariano and BMPAP chairman and Philippine Star editor-in-chief Isaac Belmonte said the Philippines gained the privilege of fielding two teams — Reyes and Bustamante for RP Team A and Orcollo and Gomez for RP Team B — by virtue of its being the host country.

“I believe they’re our strongest bets,” Mariano said, referring to the pair of Reyes and Bustamante, as well as Orcollo and Gomez for performing great in this year’s international competition in Japan, Canada, and the United States.

“I think we have a strong chance of retaining the World Cup of Pool crown,” added Aristeo “Putch” Puyat, BMPAP co-founder, acknowledged as RP’s billiards godfather.

The pair of Reyes and Bustamante, playing under the banner of Puyat Sports, ruled the 2006 inaugural edition in 2006 in Newport, England where they beat Americans Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris.

In 2009, Reyes and Bustamante rallied from a 7-9 deficit to beat the tandem of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann, 11-9, of Germany to reclaim their coveted title en route to the US$ 60,000 first prize in the 32-team field from 31 countries held at the SM North Edsa Annex in Quezon City.

Reyes, the 2010 Player of the Decade, said, “The key is really listening to your teammate. But this kind of tournament is difficult to predict because some of the strongest teams may not do well and the perceived weak teams may play really well.”

The entire event will be broadcast by Solar Sports live across the Philippines with the live feed of the tournament available internationally. In addition Matchroom Sport will be producing a 31 x one-hour highlights package of the event.

Meanwhile, Matchroom Sport chairman Barry Hearn commented, “We are delighted to be returning to the Philippines after having enjoyed last year one of the greatest pool tournaments we have ever promoted.

“Solar Sports did a fantastic job bringing all the drama and excitement of the tournament to the screen and the large, enthusiastic crowds created an atmosphere unlike any I have ever seen at a pool tournament.”

Hearn added, “The World Cup of Pool is fast becoming the biggest pool tournament in the world and we are delighted to see its continued growth in Asia and around the world.”

Other stars of the pool world scheduled to take part include world champions Ralf Souquet and Oliver Ortmann of Germany, Daryl Peach and Karl Boyes of England, Johnny Archer of the U.S. and Mika Immonen of Finland.

Other top draws appearing in Manila are Marcus Chamat (Sweden), Niels Feijen (Holland), Tony Drago (Malta) and a host of big names to be announced later.

Europe will be represented by 15 countries, including Austria, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Malta, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, for the Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2.

Thirteen countries from Asia will be participating in the event, namely China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines 1, host Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.

The rest of the participants will be coming from Australia, Canada, the US and Qatar from the Middle East.

Jakarta 2011 South East Asian Games to have 40 sports events

Forty sports, 15 more than those contested last year in Laos, have been initially approved by the Southeast Asian Games Federation to be included in the calendar of events to be disputed in the 26th edition of the biennial conclave next year in Jakarta.

This was reported Friday by athletics president Go Teng Kok, who represented the Philippine Olympic Committee in the SEA Games Federation meeting held May 29 in Jakarta during the SCOOP Sa Kamayan weekly session at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura.

“There actually 42 sports that was recommended and approved by the assembly, but futsal was placed under football and soft tennis under lawn tennis, thus reducing the number to 40,” the controversial sports leader said during the public service form.

As in the past Games, disciplines to be contested have been categorized into three – compulsory sports athletics and swimming under Category I, other sports played in the Olympic Games and Asian Games under Category II, those not played in the Olympics and Asiad under Category III and those indigenous events but played in several countries in the region.

Bodybuilding, which was listed under Category III, was also approved for inclusion although on condition that all the cases brought to the Federation for settlement because of rampant drug abuses perpetrated by many athletes.

“In other words, body building can only be officially included upon positive reports on the investigations that are on-going,” Go said, adding that the total number of sports can still be increased as host Indonesia intimated it wants as many sports as possible,” he said. Read more…

Efren Bata Reyes tops latest pool money list

It’s still world pool icon Efren “Bata” Reyes who lords it over the highest earners this year as posted by the azbilliards.com report on Thursday.

As Player of the Decade, the 55-year-old Reyes has now an accumulated earnings of US$ 61,580.

The biggest amount so far is the US$ 20,000 he won in the Derby City Classic Master of the Table and the US$ 16,000 he pocketed in the Derby City Classic 9-ball tournament last January 21 to 31 at the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel Elizabeth in Indiannapolis, USA.

Also included is the US$ 8,305 runner-up pay check he received at the 23rd annual Japan Open last March 20 to 21 at the New Pia Hall in Tokyo.

“Efren is ahead in big-time winnings that’s why he is still the top moneymaker among the world’s top billiard players,” said long-time benefactor Aristeo “Putch” Puyat, acknowledged as RP billiards’ godfather.

He teamed up with countryman and best buddy, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Taiwanese Hui-Chan Lu and Ko Pin-yi and Brunei’s Teo Cho Soon to win the Asia versus Europe Challenge Match last January 15 to 17 in Brunei.

Holding on in second is American Shane Van Boening with US$ 48,091; at third is Great Britain’s Karl Boyes with US$ 37,067 and at fourth is reigning National Open Champion Lee Vann Corteza with US$ 35,625.

Corteza of Davao City and top player of Jonathan Sy’s Negros Billiards Stable is fresh from back-to-back wins at the Hard Times Mezz Cues 10-Ball and US Open 10-Ball, held in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, respectivelty.

At fifth and sixth spots are Briton Darren Appleton and Filipino Dennis Orcollo with US$ 34,166 and US$ 31,775 earnings, respectively.

Orcollo, a former fisherman from Bislig, Surigao del Sur, also topped this year’s World Pool Masters (9-Ball) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Making it to seventh place is Tarlac’s pride, Bustamante with US$ 30,861. He also topped the Super Billiards Leaque this year in Winnipeg, Canada.

At eighth to 10th spots are Daryl Peach of Great Britain (US$ 29,088), Neils Feijen of the Netherlands (US$ 27,306) and Rodney Morris of the USA (US$ 23,325).

Lee Vann Corteza stops Lo to rule U.S. Open 10-Ball tilt

Filipino billiards icon Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza narrowly defeated Chinese Lo Hi-wen (13-12) in their final rematch Sunday to rule the 2010 U.S. Open 10-Ball championship at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, for his back-to-back title.

Corteza bagged the top prize of US$ 20,000 and shot up to fifth in the world ranking, based on the World Pool Billiard Association following his second victory at the Annual Hard Times-Mezz Cues 10-Ball Open title at Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower, Los Angeles, California two weeks ago.

Lo, on the other hand, settled for the runner-up purse of US$ 12,500 while third placer Shane Van Boening had US$ 8,500. Filipino fourth placer Francisco “Django” Bustamante went home US$ 5,700 richer.

In a post-game interview, Corteza said he got confident after slipping off U.S. ace Shane Van Boening, 9-8, in their losers’ side meeting for the last final seat.

“Winning a tournament wherein you have to compete against the world’s best players is a very big accomplishment, and I’m very happy for this win,” said Corteza, the top player of Jonathan Sy’s Negros Billiards Stable.

“I’ve hoped and prayed hard enough to win this crown for my countrymen as well as for my boss Jonathan (Sy) who has been helping me compete abroad,” added Corteza.

It was a difficult tournament for Corteza. Earlier, he had to beat Tony Robles of Mexico (9-6), Chris Bartram of the U.S. (9-5), Francis Crevier of U.S. (9-8), Kuo Po-cheng of Taiwan (9-2), Mike Dechaine of U.S. (9-8), and Manny Chau of Peru (9-8) in the winners’ brackets of the US$ 89,000 prize double elimination format. Read more…

Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo enters semis of World Pool Masters

The Philippines’ pride, Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo stormed into the 2010 Party Poker World Pool Masters at the Las Vegas Riviera Hotel and Casino by beating Canadian John Morra 8-3 victory Sunday in the 2010 in Nevada, USA.

The former fisherman from Bislig, Surigao del Sur jumped to a 4-0 lead but Morra caught up at 4-2. The Filipino table wizard then padded his lead by winning two consecutive racks to close the match.

Orcullo took the next rack but Morra answered to 5-3 lead. However, Orcullo took the last three racks to come out the winner in the end.

“I had a nice start ahead of Morras. Besides, it’s difficult to catchup in a winner’s break format that’s too short a race to eight,” said Orcollo, regarded as Perry Mariano’s Bugsy Promotions’ top bet in week-long US$ 100,000 week-long event.

With his victory, Orcollo, the 2009 International Predator 10-ball champion has arranged possibly an intriguing all-Filipino showdown if Bugsy Promotions stablemate Roberto “Pinoy Superman” Gomez gets lucky enough to get past World 9-ball and World 8-Ball champion Ralf “Kaiser” Souquet of Germany in their scheduled quarter-final round match-up. Read more…

Gabriel Mora wins Star Tiger Cup 10-Ball

Another unheralded cue star has arrived –Gabriel Mora who ruled the Star Tiger Cup 10-ball tournament on Monday at the Star Billiards Center in no. 46 Joy Street in Grace Village, Quezon City.

Mora disposed of Bob Flores, 9-8 in the finals for the top prize of P25,000 plus a Universal Cue case worth P3,000 in the one-day event participated in by 378 players.

Runner-up Flores with P10,000. Long-time billiards patron Sebastian “Baste” Chua, also the president of the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) hosted the tournament.

Others winners are Enly Santiano and Hushley Jusayan who filled up the top four spots for P5,000 each. Fifth to eight placers worth P2,000 each were given to Judi Villanueva, Ian Fabian, Carlos Policarpio and Richard Yangao.