Bata cops third; Django up, 10-5

Efren "Bata" Reyes vented his ire on Japanese Kunihiko Takahashi, 11-8, yesterday to clinch third place in the Motolite 9-ball World Challenge at the Araneta Coliseum.

Francisco ‘Django’ Bustamante was holding a 10-5 lead against American Corey Deuel in the race-to-13 final at presstime. The two were battling for the top prize of $15,000.

Getting little from his breaks again, Reyes, 47, relied more on his impeccable positional play to unsettle Takahashi, who scored only a point after coming back to level the count at 7-all.

"Balikatan kami sa break namin," said Bata, who dropped a heartbreaking 7-9 semifinal loss to American Corey Deuel late Monday.

"Kaya dinaan ko na lang sa posisyunan kaya hindi ako masyadong nahirapan dito sa larong ito," added Reyes, who is set to fly to Tokyo, Japan next week for another big event before returning to Angeles, Pampanga to concentrate on the World Pool Championships in Cardiff, Wales in July. A pair of cleanups in their first two breaks forged a 2-2 tie early but Takahashi, the best Japan could offer in the sport, started to miss shots one after another as Reyes swept the next four racks to lead, 6-2.

Takahashi, however, recovered in time and started exploiting his breaks and making some difficult shots. He took five of the next six games that tied the count at 7-all.

But when Takahashi, who lost to RP’s Francisco "Django" Bustamante, 5-9, in the other semifinal match, failed to connect on his break in the 15th rack, Reyes pounced on it and seized the next three games for a 10-7 edge.

Takahashi managed to steal one point out of Reyes’ break in the 12th rack to inch closer, 8-10, but that was the best he could do as Reyes took the next game to win the third prize of $5,000. – With report from Joey Villar