Bata, Lee advance to knockout phase

CARDIFF, Wales – Efren "Bata" Reyes was stunned by Indonesian Siaw Wieto, 2-5, but came back strong to whip hometown bet Pat Holtz, 5-1, Monday and formalize his entry into the 2002 World Pool Championship round-of-64 at the Cardiff International Arena here.

Reyes, shooting for the same title he won in 1999, never knew what hit him as he lost to the Indonesian who only has two victories to show in five matches. But with the victory over Holtz, the Filipino ace improved to 5-1 with only one match left in his group.

Lee Van Corteza, a former SEA Games champion, won twice in the third day of action and, like Reyes sporting a 5-1 slate, is assured of a slot in the knockout phase of the event. Corteza scored 5-1 victories over Paul Hunter of England and Kasper Thygesen of Denmark.

Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Antonio Lining, Ramil Gallego and Warren Kiamco are virtually into the next round with identical 4-1 records while Rodolfo Luat, Leonardo Andam and Dennis Orcullo will have some catching up to do Tuesday with their 3-2 slates.

Gallego, winner of his first four matches, finally met his match in reigning champion Mika Immonen of Finland, 3-5, while Kiamco enjoyed practically every moment in his surprising 5-0 over German ace and 1996 winner Ralf Souquet.

Lining swept his two assignments to improve to 4-1, beating Gino Vermeersch of Belgium, 5-4, and Roman Hybler of the Czech Republic, 5-2. Except for Reyes and Corteza, all members of the RP team will play two matches each Tuesday with Andam and Luat facing each other in Group 12 action.

Bustamante, whose first loss in the race-to-5, alternate-break group matches was dealt by Germany’s Thomas Engert last Sunday, is out to make a big impression here after being denied of a slot to the Asian Games-bound Philippine team.