MANILA, Philippines - For all their flair and antics, Indian players Raj Hundal and Amar Kang proved no match to Filipino pool stars Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante, unceremoniously booted out in the second round of the 2011 World Cup of Pool at the SM North EDSA Mall in Quezon City.
The Indians left the playing area without fanfare after theatrically ushered into it by a beauteous lady showering their path with rose petals.
Reyes and Bustamante silently worked their way to an 8-5 win over the Indians and thus advanced to the Last Eight of the blue-ribbon event they have won twice in 2006 and 2009.
“We just got lucky again,” the ever-humble Reyes said.
The Indians did put some pressure on the Filipinos but just couldn’t keep up as Reyes and Bustamante picked up their game and got into the groove.
The Filipinos roared through from a 4-4 deadlock with the Indians and booked a quarterfinals showdown with German hotshots Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann.
Souquet, winner of the recent World Pool Masters, and Hohmann, an equally solid pool player, eased past Malaysians Bin Amir and Patrick Ooi, 8-3.
Sweden and Korea arranged a Last Eight duel of their own in knocking out Switzerland and Japan, respectively.
Swedes Marcus Chamat and Thomas Mehtala were the first team to make the quarters with a gripping 8-6 win over Fil-Swiss Ronni Regli and Swiss teammate Dimitri Jungo.
Both teams were shaky at best with Regli for Switzerland and Mehtala for Sweden particularly struggling under pressure.
Regli and Jungo actually got off to a hot 4-0 start only to allow the Swedes to mount a rally and steal the match.
The match had a bizarre ending that saw both teams miss elementary shots.
“It was an amazing game. I’ve played so many games over the years and that’s one of the worst games I’ve been involved in,” said Chamat.
Showing sustained brilliant game were the Germans.
Dennis Orcollo and Ronnie Alcano were to take a shot at the quarterfinals versus Canada’s Jason Klatt and John Morra late last night.