Django pockets fourth title

Francisco "Django" Bustamante continued his successful performance in the international pro billiard circuit by winning the Coliseum Mall Peninsula nine-Ball Open Championship in Hampton, Virginia, USA, Sunday.

Bustamante defeated defending champion Johnny Archer, of the United States, 15-10, in the finals of the star-studded tournament to win the title and $10,000 first prize. Archer received the $5,000 second prize.

Bustamante’s path to the finals included wins over Nick Schulman, Frankie Hernandez, Tony Robles, and Neils Feijen leading up to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Bustamante defeated Jimmy Wetch.

Bustamante called his sponsor Aristeo "Putch" Puyat to report his win and thank the Philippine Olympic Committee for choosing him as standard bearer of the RP delegation to the forthcoming Asian Games in Korea. He said he is greatly honored and will skip the prestigious US Open in September to play for his country in the Games.

Among those who competed in the peninsula Open were his Puyat Sports teammate Efren "Bata" Reyes, Americans Earl Strickland and Corey Deuel, and Finland’s Mika Immonen who, like Reyes, is a former world pool champion.

Reyes, who placed fifth after losing, 12-15, to Archer in the quarterfinals, defeated Strickland, 15-8 in the second round and knocked out the temperamental American in the single elimination tournament. Reyes’ win over Strickland was "sweet revenge" for his friend Bustamante who lost to Strickland in the finals of the 2002 World Pool Championship in Cardiff last month.

The Peninsula Open was Bustamante’s fourth title this year. The others were the Japan Open in Tokyo, IBC World Tour in Munich, Germany, and Motolite International nine-Ball Challenge at the Araneta Coliseum.