Django vies in six-man world pool

Francisco "Django" Bustamante of the Philippines will be pitted against five of the world’s top cue artists when the 2000 World Pool League is staged Nov. 10-12 at the Warszawski Dom Technika in Warsaw, Poland.

The 36-year-old Bustamante, now based in Kiel, Germany, will vie for the $12,000 top prize along with Jim Rempe of the US, Ralf Souquet of Germany, Steve Knight of England, Radoslaw Babica of Poland and Niels Feijen of Holland.

It will be the biggest tournament so far for Bustamante after the World 9-Ball Championship last June in Cardiff, Wales where he failed to reach the semis along with countryman Efren "Bata" Reyes, the 1999 champion.

The six players will play a single round-robin eliminations where each match will be played over 10 racks with alternate breaks. A victory is worth two points and in case of a 5-5 draw, a decisive game will be played.

The top four players after the eliminations will make it to the cross-over semis, a race-to-seven affair with alternate breaks. In case of a tie for the positioning in the semis, the player scoring more racks will take the higher position. The finals is also a race-to-seven.

Lined up for Bustamante in the opening day are Rempe and Knight, the top European player today. In the second day, the Filipino bet takes on Babica and Souquet before closing his elims schedule against Feijen on the final day.

The runner-up gets $7,000 while semifinal losers will take home $5,000 each. Fifth place is worth $4,000 and sixth $2,000.