THE country’s brightest billiards stars Efren “Bata” Reyes, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo, Ronato “Volcano” Alcano and Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza won their respective opening matches yesterday to lead the charge of the tournament favorites in the 2012 World 9-ball Championship at the beautiful Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
Reyes overpowered Phillip Stajanovic of Croatia, 9-3, in Group 1; Bustamante waylaid Lo Li-wen of China, 9-7, in Group 9; Orcollo trounced Ali Saeed Alsuwaidi of UAE, 9-6, in Group 15; Alcano nipped Toh Lian Han of Singapore in Group 13 while Corteza blanked Ivica Putnik of Coatia, 9-0, in Group 14.
Other notable Filipino billiards artists who also won their opening-round matches are Ramil Gallego who tripped Sundee Gulati of UAE, 9-6, in Group 2; Jundel Mazon who nipped Chris Melling of Great Britain, 9-7, in Group 3; Carlo Biado who blasted Rajandra Nair of India, 9-1, in Group 4; Roberto Gomez who toppled Takht Zarekani of UAE, 9-6, in Group 10 and Cebuano Antonio Gabica who clobbered Andrea Klasovic of Croatia, 9-4.
Meanwhile, three Filipinos stayed alive in the loser’s bracket after beating their respective opponents yesterday.
Elvis Calasang whipped Kuo Yi Pe of Chinese-Taipei, 9-8; Joven Alba prevailed over Henrique Correia of Portugal, 9-4 while Israel Rota smashed Lee Wan Su of Korea, 9-4.
However, Oliver Medenilla was booted out of the cash-rich tournament after losing to Lo Li-wen, 9-3, in the loser’s side while Raymond Faraon and Joven Alba remained in contention.
A total of 128 of the best pool players from over 50 countries, are competing in the $300,000 championship where the winner receives $40,000.