Monday, October 16, 2006 Bata Reyes seeded 2nd in World Pool tourney By Mike Limpag Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THIS year’s World Pool Championships is a fulfillment of a dream for Matchroom Sport founder Barry Hearn.
According to a report posted at Azbilliards.com, Hearn said they have longed to stage the game in the Philippines after the Filipino cue artists, led by the legendary Efren “Bata” Reyes, started conquering tournaments organized by Matchroom Sports.
Reyes, who on a roll this year, winning three straight tournaments, in a three-week span, won the World Pool championship in Cardiff in 1999, the first time Matchroom Sport took the WPC under its wing.
According to the report, one of the benefits of staging the event in the country is it gives a chance for other local stars to shine, as the event will have a local qualifying round for the last nine spots days before the contest.
“I hope the event will herald a nine-day party across the country. I don’t know what the contingency plan will be if a local player wins but if they do, hang on to your hats,” Hearn said in the report.
Meanwhile, Reyes has been seeded second in the event, with title holder Wu Chia Ching seeded first.
Last year, Reyes bowed out after just the first round, which led to speculations on his retirement. However, months later, Reyes bounced back to the top of the pool world after winning the $200,000 King of the Hill tournament.
Other Pinoys in the top 10 are fourth-seed Alex Pagulayan, who won the event in 2004 and was a runner-up in 2003, fifth-seed Marlon Manalo, the last Pinoy standing in last year’s edition, and 10th-seed Francisco Bustamante, who finished runner-up to Earl Strickland in an emotional loss in 2002.
