The Magician vs The Machine

CARDIFF, Wales – Efren "Bata" Reyes, Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Antonio Lining hurdled their respective assignments Thursday, and were left to carry the heavy load for the Philippines going into the last 16 of the 2002 World Pool Championship here.

Reyes had the sad duty to take out countryman Dennis Orcullo, 9-6, while Bustamante made short work of Germany’s Christian Reimering, 9-2. Lining kept Thomas Engert, another German, seated most of the time in posting the only 9-0 win in the last 32.

Ramil Gallego, who created quite a stir here when he won his first four matches in the elimination round, bowed out with a heavy heart after losing an 8-3 lead in allowing Japan’s Takeshi Okumura to score a 9-8 win.

The Philippine campaign resumes Friday in the last 16 with Reyes taking on Germany’s Oliver Ortmann in an exciting battle between two former winners of the event. Reyes was the 1999 champion while Ortmann was crowned king of pool in 1995.

In a bad break, however, Bustamante and Lining were paired in the last 16, meaning no more than two Filipinos now have a chance of making it to the quarterfinals where each player will be guaranteed $8,500 (P425,000). Friday’s losers will all go home with $4,000.

If Reyes beats Ortmann, he will face the winner between Bustamante and Lining.

After beating Puerto Rico’s Tony Robles, 9-4, Thursday, Ortmann, known as "The Machine" in the world pool circuit, said his upcoming match with Reyes, called "The Magician," has the makings of a classic one.

"I will need to play better to beat Efren (but) that should be a good one. Although he is well into his 40’s he is just the most fantastic player. His positional play is absolutely the best but in 9-ball everyone is beatable," he said.

Aside from the Philippines, other countries with three representatives in the last 16 are Chinese-Taipei, Japan and the United States with one player each from Germany, Holland, Sweden and Canada in the person of half-Filipino Alex Pagulayan.

There are also six former champions still in the hunt for the $65,000 top prize, including Reyes and Ortmann. The other ex-champs are Americans Earl Strickland (’90 and ’91) and Johnny Archer (‘92, ‘97), and Japanese Takeshi Okumura (’94) and Kunihiko Takehashi (‘97).

Among the biggest losers Thursday were local favorite Steve Davis who bowed to Ching-Shun Yang of Chinese-Taipei, 9-4; American legend Nick Varner who fell short against Pagulayan, 9-7; and American world No. 1 Cory Deuel who lost to Marcus Chamat of England, 9-6.

Shannon Daulton of the US, who will be remembered this year for beating last year’s winner, Mika Immonen of Finland, in the last 64, crashed back to earth following a 9-1 loss to Chinese-Taipei’s Lu-Kung Hung.