RP cue artists run show

CARDIFF, Wales – Ramil Gallego and Lee Van Corteza of the Philippines racked up their third straight victories in the group matches Sunday as Francisco "Django" Bustamante lost to his German opponent in Day 2 of the 2002 World Pool Championhips at the Cardiff International Arena here.

Bustamante whipped Marcos Castro of Costa Rica, 5-1, and Shawn Budd of Australia, 5-2, in Group 7 action last Saturday but failed to notch a third straight victory when he dropped a 2-5 decision to Thomas Engert late last night.

Corteza survived Rico Diks of Holland, 5-4, and Darren Appleton of England, 5-3, on opening day and followed it up with a 5-1 victory over Luis Miguel Sanchez of Venezuela.

Gallego, who topped his group last year before losing to American veteran Earl Strickland, 8-9, in the round-of-64, made the biggest noise Saturday by being the only player in the field to win two matches without yielding a single rack.

Gallego posted similar 5-0 victories over George Sarmas of Greece and Brian Naithani of Germany. His third victory came at the expense of Wayne Lloyd of Wales, 5-3.

Winning in the afternoon matches Sunday were Rodolfo Luat over Mark Williams of Wales, 5-4, and Warren Kiamco over Frankie Hernandez of the US, 5-3.

Efren "Bata" Reyes, the 1999 world champion, made short work of Niklas Bergendorff of Sweden, 5-2, and Alok Kumar of India, 5-0 in Group 5 action Saturday. He and the rest of the Filipinos were scheduled to play two games each Sunday.

The tournament offering a top prize of $65,000 drew 128 players divided into 16 groups of eight players each. They will play a single-round robin, race-to-5 eliminations with the top four from each group making it to the round-of-64.

The round-of-64 will be a race-to-9, winner-breaks affair leading to the next round to be played under the same format. The round-of-16 will be a race-to-11 en route to the quarterfinals and the semifinals. The finals on July 21 will be a race-to-17.