MANILA, Philippines - Filipino pool masters Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante pulled off a businesslike thumping of Qatar rivals Bashar Hussain and Mohammed Ali Bi Ali, 8-3, at the start of 2009 PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool at the SM North EDSA Activity Center last night.
Reigning champion the United States and 2007 winner China also won their respective opening-round matches, advancing to the Round of 16 of the prestigious event featuring 32 teams from 31 nations competing for the $60,000 first prize from the total cash pot of $250,000.
Americans Rodney Morris and Shane Van Boening nipped Maltans Tony Drago and Alex Borg, 8-7, while Chinese Fu Jian-Bo and Li He-wen, frustrated Korean belles, Ga Young Kim and Yun Mi Lim, 8-5.
Reyes and Bustamante, winners in the initial World Cup but seeded only fifth in the current competition, displayed near perfect pocketing in easing out the Qataris to book a seat in the next round against the winner of the Austria-Italy tiff at 12 noon today.
The second day of competition will also see the debut of the RP Team A – made up of Dennis Orcollo and Ronnie Alcano – versus Thailand. Orcollo and Alcano are seeded second behind the American pair.
An all-Filipino final is possible since the Reyes-Bustamante pair is in the upper bracket and the Orcollo-Alcano duo is in the lower group.
“I’ll be happy in a victory by any RP team. I’ll be happier if it’s an all-Filipino final,” said Reyes.
France and Indonesia were the other early second-round qualifiers, eliminating Canada and India, respectively.
Frenchmen Stephan Cohen and Vincent Facquet routed Canadians Tyler Edey and Jason Klatt, 8-1, while Indons Muhammad Simanjuntuak and Muhammad Zulfikri clobbered Indians Raj Hundal and Dharminder Singh Lilly, 8-3.
The Chinese pair was the day’s spoiler, disappointing the crowd in knocking out the pretty Korean belles – the first ever all-female side to compete in the tourney.
Ga and Yun captivated the crowd in their skimpy black dress and sent them roaring as they took the first two racks.
Their fine start didn’t last, though, with Yun’s missing the black 8, allowing the Chinese to get their turn on the green-felt table.
Fu and Li, seeded ninth in the tourney, raced ahead 6-2 before yielding a third rack to the Koreans.