RP cue masters face the best from Europe

After dominating their Asian counterparts, the ace Filipino cue masters try to do the same against the best and the brightest pool players from Europe when they clash in a duel billed "Europe vs Philippines" beginning July 2 at The Loop at the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City.

Efren "Bata" Reyes, who dominated Warren Kiamco in an all-Filipino finale in the Asian 9-ball championship early this month here, leads the crack four-man RP squad that also includes Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Antonio Lining as they compete against the foursome of Mika Immonen of Finland, Ralf Souquet of Germany, Niels Feijen of The Netherlands and Swede Marcus Chamat,

A top purse of $15,000 is at stake in the event that will have the Filipinos playing against the Europeans in a single-round robin, race-to-7 affair under the alternate break format.

The top two players from each team will advance to the crossover semis with the No. 1 Filipino player clashing with Europe’s No. 2 and the top-ranking player from Europe tangling with the local bet’s second-ranked player in a pair of race-to-11 matches.

The championship will be a race-to-13 affair, also under the alternate break format, with the winner running away with the $15,000 purse. The second placer will get $10,000 while the third and fourth finishers will receive $5,000 and $3,000, respectively.

Although he fared miserably in last year’s World Pool tilt he ruled in 1999, the amiable Reyes regained his winning ways this year by topping the Mid-Atlantic 9-Ball Championships in Virginia in January then routed Kiamco, 11-2, to bag the $20,000 purse in the Asian 9-ball Tour.

Considered as the best player never to win a big one, Bustamante finished second in last year’s World Pool Championship won by American Earl Strickland although he won just about every other tournament he competed in last year, including the IBC Munich, IBC Tokyo, Japan Open, Gabriels Las Vegas Invitational, Peninsula 9-Ball, and Motolite World Challenge titles in a spectacular season that earned him Player of the Year honors from AZBilliards.com, a prominent US Pool site.

Despite his loss, Kiamco remains a force to reckon with for the RP side. He recently won the Tirador 2003 tournament in Manila, besting a strong field of the top Pinoy players although his biggest paycheck to date was $32,000 he got when he placed third in the inaugural IBC Tokyo event in 2001.

Lining is the least-fancied local bet in the fold but the former All-Japan champion, also a SEA Games gold medallist, has vowed to prove his worth in the tournament which the Filipinos will use as part of their buildup for the World Pool Championships slated July 12-20 in Cardiff, Wales.

So do the Europeans.

Immonen, who humbled Reyes en route to winning the World Pool crown in 2001, has long been considered as one of Europe’s leading talents and is expected to spearhead the bid of the visiting team in the tournament spread over five days.

There are also the reigning European 8-ball champion Souquet, a familiar name here who has also beaten the top Filipino players in other big-time tournaments, Feijen, who won this year’s Finland Open and finished second in the recent Tokyo Open, and Chamat, whose feats include the 2000 European 9-ball championship and the Mosconi Cup.