RP Open attracts world pool champs

Top notch billiards action begins tomorrow with 76 players from 10 countries, including the reigning and six former WPA (World Pool Association) champions, vying for top honors in the first Philippine Open and Invitational 9-ball Championships at the Robinson’s Galleria in Ortigas.

German Thorsten Hohmann, the top WPA player this year, heads the star-studded field that includes local star Efren "Bata" Reyes, who won the WPA honors in 1999, Finland’s Mika Immonen (2001), Kunihiko Takahashi of Japan (1998), Ralf Souquet, also of Germany (1996) and three-time WPA winner Earl Strickland of the US.

Fong Pang Chao, a two-time WPA titleholder, is also in the fold but the Taiwanese ace cue master is unseeded and will play, along with 59 others, in Stage One of the elimination round beginning tomorrow at the Octagon Hall, fourth level of Robinson’s Galleria.

Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Canada-based Alex Pagulayan have also been seeded into the tournament proper of the four-day event sponsored by Café Puro.

Man to watch is Frennie Reyes, the 19-year-old son of the legendary Bata Reyes, who is making his debut in the pro circuit.

The event, which gets going at 2 p.m., will be televised live on Channel 23.

The top 16 finishers will advance to Stage 2 on Thursday to join the 16 seeded players, including Corey Deuel and Rodney Morris (USA); Marcus Chamat (Sweden); Park Shin Young and Jeong Young Hwa (Korea); Yang Ching Shun and Hsia Hui Kai (Taipei); and Satoshi Kawabata (Japan).