Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Bata, Django favorites to win World Cup of Pool
Almost two months after the top seed got ousted in the World Cup of football in Germany, another top seed—the Philippines—hopes to avoid the same upset when the World Cup of Pool opens today at the Newport Center in Wales.
The Philippines, represented by Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante, will open their bid today in the first round of the 32-country event.
The duo are considered the betting favorites to win the event and Matchroom Sport, the organizer of the event, even announced that betting on the Filipino pair, a 6/4 favorite to win the $60,000 top prize, "isn't a sound investment."
Skipped
Reyes and Bustamante recently skipped the National Pool Championships, which was won by Alex Pagulayan, to concentrate on the World Cup.
Reyes, who won the World Pool Championships title in 1999, won't be just be playing with colleagues but with admirers as well, as 27 of the 64 participants has named him their favorite player, according to their profile listed at the event's official website.
Bustamante is a distant second with five admirers.
Aside from the two Pinoys, the other favorites to win the event are the USA, with Rodney Morris and Earl Strickland and Germany, who has Thomas Engert and Oliver Ortmann.
On the other hand, England will be represented by two teams, one with Steve Davis and Daryl Peach, while the other will be bannered by snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan and Raj Hundal. (ML)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 23, 2006 issue)
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