Two-time champion Philippines represented by Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante routed Kuwait, 8-4 late Tuesday at the start of the PartyPoker.net 2011 World Cup of Pool at SM North Edsa in Quezon City.
Reyes and Bustamante, who compose Philippine Team B, trounced Kuwaitis Khaled Al Mutaira and Omar Al Shaheen to keep their bid for a third World Cup of Pool crown alive. They won the inaugural edition in 2006 and repeated in 2009.
Reyes, who looked shaky in front of a home crowd in the World Pool Masters earlier in the week, displayed some stunning shots including a reversed bank shot which set up a run out that pushed the Filipino pair ahead, 6-3.
“It was a good win and we are pleased with that,” said Bustamante.
Also on Tuesday, teams from Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, Korea and India beat their respective rivals.
The Swiss team of Dimitri Jungo and Ronni Regli stunned defending champion China composed of Fu Jianbo and Li Hewen, 8-5.
“We are capable of beating anybody if we have a good day and we also have a good team spirit,” said a delighted Jungo who revealed that playing in the Philippines is a dream come true.
Team Sweden of Marcus Chamat and Thomas Mehtala rallied from a 1-5 deficit to frustrate the Indonesian pair of Irsal Nasution and Riyan Setiawan, 8-7.
“I’m relieved to get through but we have a day’s rest and hopefully Thomas and I can practice and get some groove into our game,” said Chamat. “But if we play like this again, then we will be flying home soon.”
Team India, composed of Raj Hundal and Amar Kang, wasted leads of 5-1 and 7-3 but came through at the wringer to post an 8-7 thriller over Finland’s Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen, a 23-year-old who is making his World Cup debut.
“I’m not sure that the wheels came off when we were leading but there’s a lot of pressure out there. Petri missed the 9-ball by a country mile and flunked it but that’s pool,” said Hundal.
The Philippines, as tournament host, has two teams competing in the event.
Team A is composed of world No. 1 Dennis Orcollo and Ronato Alcano.