Thursday, November 09, 2006 Bustamante goes bust By Frank C. Calapre Sun.Star Correspondent
NEWCOMER Jeffrey de Luna, Jharome Pena and Ronato Alcano showed class by beating their foes to reach the round of 32 yesterday in the 2006 World Pool Championship at the Philippine International Convention Center.
But no. 10 seed Francisco “Django” Bustamante bowed out of contention after losing to Thomas Engert of Germany, 7-10, in the knockout match.
The 22-year-old de Luna, the youngest Filipino campaigner, showed huge promise as he overcame a hard-fought match against Nick Van Den Berg of the Netherlands, 10-8 to become the first Filipino to advance into the next round.
The 22-year-old De Luna of Caloocan City managed to pocket the difficult ball no. 6 on a cross bunk shot to eliminate the no. 15 seed Van Den Berg, the European champion last year.
“He was the one who ousted my teammate Gandy Valle, the other night. So I really wanted to avenge that setback. But I was a little nervous at the start. It was good I was able to overcome it,” said De Luna, whose first rise to prominence was placing third in the last 2006 National Open.
Alcano, 34, defeated compatriot Roberto Gomez in smashing fashion, 10-1, to earn the right to face the winner between Efren “Bata” Reyes and Dennis Orcullo, who were still playing at presstime.
Good game
“I had a good game and I think Bobby (Gomez) had a bad day especially in the breaks. I’ll really do everything to make it to the semis, if not to the finals,” said Alcano of Calamba, Laguna.
A total of 12 Filipinos led by no. 2 seed Efren “Bata” Reyes and no. 10 Francisco “Django” Bustamante gained entry into the round of 64. But the host team was only second to Chinese-Taipei, which has 13, followed by Germany with 7 and the United States with 5. Now, ony 25 players are left.
Others who made it to the second round were Rodolfo Luat, who was still facing Jeremy Jones of the US; Lee Van Corteza, who was meeting Imrad Majid of England; Ramil Gallego, who was scheduled to battle Chao Fong-Pang of Taiwan; Marlon Manalo who was facing Chan Keng-Kwang also of Taiwan; and Rudy Morta, who was meeting Markus Juva of Finland.
Among the seeded Filipino players who failed to make the cut were no. 4 and 2004 champion Alex Pagulayan and no. 23 Jose “Amang” Parica.
Alcano said it’s not a far-fetched possibility to win against Reyes whom he defeated thrice this year, the last in an IPT tournament in the US in April.
Sweep
Pena, who surprisingly made it to the round of 64 via a close tie break, swept the last three racks en route to a 10-7 win over Loius Condo of Australia .
“This is great and I am more determined now,” said Pena, who figured with similar two points with Brunei Prince Mutadih Billa and Darren Appleton at the end of the four-day elimination round on Tuesday.
After a see-saw battle until in the 12th rack, de Luna swept the next rack and went on to lead 8-6, his biggest lead in the match. He then took advantage of a miscue by Van Den Berg to finish the match in two hours and 23 minutes.
“It was a close fight because my opponent refused to buckle down to pressure when I took a two-point lead,” added De Luna, who started playing billiards at 8 years old.
