Powerhouse RP teams open World Cup bids

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines opens its bid to reclaim the World Cup of Pool crown it won in its inaugural staging with a pair of world-class tandems going up against the best teams in the world, including defending champion the United States, at SM City North Edsa today.

Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante, who won the inaugurals of the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool in 2006, hope to come out strong as they try to dethrone reigning titlists Rodney Morris and Shane Van Boening for the title worth $60,000.

The Philippines is fancied to contend for the crown as it is allowed to field in two teams in the six-day, $250,000 tournament with former world 9-ball and 8-ball champion Ronnie Alcano and former world No. 1 Dennis Orcollo making up the other RP squad.

Reyes and Bustamante take on Bashar Hussain and Mohammed Ali Bin Ali of Qatar at 6 tonight while Alcano and Orcollo see action tomorrow against Thailand’s Nitiwat Kanjanasri and Surethep Phoochalam.

Germany’s Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann, both former world champions, battle Hong Kong’s Kenny Kwok and Lee Chenman while Morris and Van Boening collide with Tony Drago and Alex Borg of Malta in the day’s other featured duels.

The US and Malta met in the opening round in 2007 with the Americans barely escaping with an 8-7 victory.

Li Hewen and Fu Jianbo of China, winners in 2007, also open their bid against Ga Young Kim and Yun Mi Lim of Korea tonight.

The previous champions form part of the 32 teams representing 31 countries vying for the championship in the event promoted by Matchroom Sports in association with Solar Sports of the Philippines.

The other teams are the Netherlands (Nick Van Den Berg and Niels Feijen), England (Darren Appleton and Imran Majid), Sweden (Marcus Chamat and Mika Immonen), Taiwan (Yang Ching-shun and Lai Chia-hsiung) and Vietnam ( Luong Chi Dung and Nguyen Thanh Nam).