Reyes, 3 others advance: RP now has 16 bets to knockout stage of World 9-ball Championship

CEBU, Philippines - Filipino billiards maestro Efren “Bata” Reyes, Cebu’s pride Antonio “Gaga” Gabica and two other Pinoys joined a dozen of their fellow countrymen into the last 64 knockout stage of the World 9-Ball Pool Championship 2010 on Friday night at the Qatar Billiards & Snooker Federation along Al Muntazah Street in Doha, Qatar.

Reyes, a two-time world titlist who earned the monicker “The Magician” for his penchant in sinking extraordinary shots, rebounded from an opening setback to Haitao Liu of China with consecutive victories over Holger Gries of Germany, 9-7, and a 9-0 cleanup of Ihab Hassan of Iraq.

Gabica, a one-time ‘Athlete of the Year’ awardee         by the Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC), gamely bounced back from a thrilling 8-9 loss to compatriot Francisco Felisilda with a 9-3 thrashing of former US Open champion Corey Deuel of the United States.

The youthful Jeffrey de Luna and Lee Van Corteza also advanced into the week-long tournament that offers a total cash prize of US$250,000 or roughly P12 million. The champion will receive $36,000, while the runner-up will take home $18,000.

After crashing at the hands of Thai Nitiwat Kanjanasri, De luna kept his title hunt in motion with back-to-back wins over American Richard Jones, 9-6 and Khalid Azmutari of Kuwait, 9-3, while Corteza lost to Germany’s Christian Reimering, 5-9, but easily rolled past Ibrahim Al Khadar of Syria, 9-1, and Mohanna Obaidly of Qatar, 9-3, to stay alive.

All in all, 16 Filipino cue artists stormed into the next round, making it the best start so far by the Philippine contigent in one of the most prestigious and highly-anticipated billiards events of the year.

The rest of RP’s bets who marched on were Dennis Orcollo, Renato “The Volcano” Alcano, Cebuano Israel Rota, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Antonio Lining, Venancio Tanio, Oliver Medenilla, Francisco Felisilda, Raymund Faraon, Alen Cuarcero, Marlon Manalo and Joven Alba.