Kiamco masters Django, enters final

SINGAPORE — The long dry spell may soon be over for Warren Kiamco.

Kiamco scored a second straight win over fellow Filipino Francisco "Django" Bustamante in a month, giving himself a chance at ending an over-a-year title drought as he reached the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour kick-off leg final at the Pool Haven here yesterday.

The 32-year-old Cebuano pool master repulsed Bustamante, 11-9, as he continued to showcase awesome pocketing and well-placed safety shots, gaining a crack at the title and the $50,000 top prize versus old rival Chinese Taipei’s Yang Ching-shun.

"Swerte-swerte lang din dito sa laro namin. Gaya ngayon hindi ako naubusan ng swerte," said Kiamco as repeated his Atlantic City 10-Ball win over Bustamante only last Feb. 17 to set up a title rematch with Yang — his rival for the gold medal in the 2002 Busan Asian Games 9-Ball event.

Kiamco, still without a title since winning the billiards rotation in the 2001 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, was hoping he can avenge his blowout at the hands of Yang in Busan. Yang made it to the finals here with an 11-8 decision over fellow Taiwanese Hsia Hui-kai, the first-round conqueror of Efren "Bata" Reyes.

Ranked No. 8 in the world and seeded No. 4 here, Kiamco got a shot at the finals against Bustamante as he walloped countryman Dennis Orcullo, 9-1, in the Round of 16 then repulsed Chinese-Taipei’s Kuo Po-cheng, 9-7, in the quarterfinals. Bustamante, runner-up to American Earl Strickland in last year’s World Pool Championship and the tournament top seed, made it to the semis with a 9-1 thrashing of Singapore’s Tan Tiong-boon and a 9-4 dumping of Japan’s Akikumo Toshikawa.

Yang and Hsia arranged an all-Taiwanese semifinal duel by ousting Filipinos Lee Van Corteza and Antonio Lining in the quarters. Corteza and Lining reached the quarters as they disposed of India’s Mukesh Rihani and Thailand’s Surathep Phoochalam, respectively.

Two-time World Pool Championship winner Chao Fong-pang of Chinese-Taipei was ousted by Kuo in the second round.

"Masama ang umpisa ko. Gumanda sa middlegame kaya lang nakabawi rin si Warren. Tapos magaganda ang safety shots niya sa huli," said Bustamante, the world No. 3 who settled for joint third and the cash prize of $3,000 here. He vies for the $1,500 top prize in the Japan Open starting March 22.

In a duel of streaks, Kiamco strung up five straight racks after yielding seven successive ones to Bustamante to clinch the match that assured him a cash earning of $5,000 in the tourney.

"Tingin ko talo na noong lumamang na si Django after winning six straight racks. Mahirap mag-comeback sa laban na ito dahil alternate breaks," said Kiamco.

All the action in this event will be aired on STAR Sports at 9 p.m. on April 1-3 and April 8-10.