The League of Champions

In The 16th Rack Of The San Miguel 9-Ball Asian Tour finals last month, pool legend Francisco "Django" Bustamante pursed his lips as he pocketed another ball and inched closer to the championship.

Django, who has been in some kind of a slump recently, looked relaxed and more confident than ever with a commanding 10-6 lead in the race to 13 duel. He unfolded his arms and glanced at the clock. It won’t be long now before he finally won something this year. But his opponent had plans of his own, and a few more strokes up his sleeve.

Some say that when you look into the cold, calculating eyes of Lee Van Corteza, you couldn’t tell if he was winning or losing. Just like Django, the soft-spoken young man from Davao has a dead-pan, poker face that serves a billiard player well: He can bite your head off when you least expect it. And that’s exactly what he did, stealing the championship from Django 13-11, and beating the great Efren "Bata" reyes in the semis to gain that final berth.

"Akala ko noon tapos na. Talo na," Lee Van admits. "Talagang nag-aantay nalang ako at baka swertehin na makabalik sa mesa. And it’s good naman na I was given another chance."

Slowly, surely, he chipped away at the lead and, following a crucial Bustamante miss, forced a tie at the start of the 23rd rack. With textbook control and exact placing of the cueball, Django’s once invincible lead crumbled, and the momentum shifted. "Binigay ko na lahat ng pwede kong ibigay. Buti na lang at binuwenas din ako," Lee Van grins. "Pinilit ko humabol doon sa laro syempre, pero hindi ko pinuwersa."

It was a dramatic upset, and although tainted with blunders himself, Lee Van stood alone in the spotlight and cemented his place among the elite pool of local heirs to the Bata Reyes-Django Bustamante thrones.

"Sabi ko sa sarili ko, sa wakas nanalo rin!" he says. "I then went up to (Django) and told him ‘Champ, sinuwerte lang ako ngayon.’ Pero talagang masaya ako noon kasi lagi siya ang panalo sa mga laban namin dati."

At 25, Lee Van might already be an accomplished veteran in the world of pro 9-ball, but he has also been an inconsistent one. Though he may have a few titles tucked under his belt, these have come pathetically years apart. His last major triumph prior to this, for example, was way back in the 2001 SEA Games.

It’s not that Lee Van’s play settles somewhere below mediocrity, as he is considered to be one of the most reliable pocketers around. "Yan ang pinaka-magaling na parte ng laro ko," he beams with pride. "Pero maganda rin naman ang all-around game ko."

There is no doubt a lot of amateurs admire his concise bank angles, safeties, and the natural ability to turn long-range positions into high-range percentage hits. Lee Van’s share of magical shots are at times reminiscent of "Bata" Reyes, his idol.

So if it isn’t a question of talent, then what gives? Critics gripe that it’s how poorly he handles pressure in close games which prevents him from taking over, or his lack of a killer instinct to knock the wind out of an opponent. Whatever it is, Lee Van should simply learn to extend his rhythm in 9-ball offense. And if he can focus on this, he may finally notch up a string of follow-up titles–a feat which has so far eluded him.

More importantly, he badly needs an MVP-type season to get back into Lito Puyat’s pampered stable of stars–supposedly the PGA Tour of Philippine billiards. And because he has been in the pro ranks since 1997, this year could very well be one of his last chances to build a solid reputation as a star player before all the hooplah fizzles out.

"Ang pangarap ko ay ma-prove kay Mr. Puyat na I belong with the best of them," Lee Van sighs and shakes his head. "Maraming beses na kasi akong hindi naka-perform ng maganda sa mga local and international tournaments. Ewan ko nga minsan kung bakit ganoon, eh, okey naman ang tumbok ko."

Perhaps the greatest irony about his shortcomings in pool is the fact that he trains harder than most cue artists in the country today, stretching up to nearly twelve hours per practice. His work ethic is so meticulous, analysts say, that even an avid eskalera enthusiast would probably find it dull.

"Kahit wala ako sa kondisyon mag ensayo, hindi bababa sa anim na oras ang training ko kada araw," he reveals. And it is this kind of devotion to his craft that typically mirrors Lee Van’s biographical characteristics.

Growing up in Davao City in a lower middle class family, Lee Van’s first love was actually basketball. Billiards, he says, was quite foreign to him. "Sila (Robert) Jaworski kasi ang uso sa amin noon. Kaso hindi naman ako ganoon katangkad kaya medyo naagrabyado ako sa mga kalaban," he chuckles, adding that he was around 13 years old when he first laid eyes on a cue stick. "Niyaya lang ako ng isa kong barkada na mag-billiards. Wala akong kaalam-alam noon pero sumama naman ako. And doon na nga siguro nagsimula yung lahat."

Lee Van hung-out with pool hustlers in the area, copying their style of play until he was able to develop his own. And it wasn’t long before the slender teenager exceeded their skills. "Nung una pakenkoy-kenkoy lang ako. Bara-bara lang," he admits. "Eh hanggang sa napadalas na, gumaling na rin ako. Basta laro ng laro ang ginawa ko. Yun lang naman ang sikreto para matuto ka, eh. Nakasira pa nga ako dati ng tapete sa sobrang gigil ko tumira, kaya niyari ako nung may ari ng mesa. Honestly, akala ko lilipas din yung hilig ko sa pagtumbok ng mga bola. Pero bandang huli, napamahal na talaga sa akin ang bilyar. Para bang naging obsessed na ako."

Such love for the sport had its contrasting effects, however, as he struggled to cope with his studies. It seems that Lee Van’s mastery of the pool table proved so difficult and inconvenient a goal that he eventually dropped out of high school–a decision he still regrets to this day. "Nakakalungkot kasi hindi man lang ako nakatapos ng pag-aaral," he rues. "Puro bilyar na lang kasi ang inatupag ko after ma-introduce ako doon, eh. Sayang."

It is indeed a pity when a student gives up school to make money, but he really shouldn’t beat himself up about it too much because he did earn quite well with his cue stick. Indeed, it’s awfully hard for anyone to devote himself totally to different endeavors and still get the desired results for both of them. So while Lee Van may enjoy some financial benefits, the situation was, sadly, another testament that people always lose something valuable for every single thing they gain. And in this case, it was his education.

"Nagpunta ako ng Maynila nung 1995 kasi wala ng gusto lumaban sa akin sa Davao," he smiles. "But seriously, now, lumuwas ako dito para malaman ko kung gaano talaga ako kahusay."

For the first few years of his stay in Manila, the young, confident Lee Van struggled to make it in the big leagues. And this was the time when he struggled to garner even a single tournament win as he woke up to the harsh reality of urban pool. "Muntik na ko bumalik sa probinsya nung panahon na yon. Sobrang demoralized talaga ako noon," he admits.

He didn’t have to go back with head bowed, fortunately, since his luck made a 360-degree turn–exactly four years after he had left Davao. Lee Van started off by winning the gold medal in the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei and again in 2001 in Kuala Lumpur, where he pulled-off his first major upset by beating Reyes. And by his most recent win, he earned a slot in this year’s World Pool Champion-ship in Taiwan on July 10-18. "Tsamba lang siguro mga panalo ko sa kanila (Bata and Django)," he mumbles. "Pero at least masasabi ko pa rin na natalo ko ang dalawang pinakamagaling na manlalaro sa mundo."

And that’s saying a lot. For while he may not have reached the stature of both of them, Lee Van always gives everything he has, stands proud and accepts whatever the outcome of a match.

And that puts him sqaurely in the league of champions.