Thursday, November 08, 2007 A family affair at WPC
MANILA - Four Filipino cue masters led by 2002 runnerup Francisco “Django” Bustamante displayed enough poise and determination in salvaging big triumph on Wednesday to cruise into the Round-of-32 in the 2007 World Pool Championship at the Araneta Coliseum.
The 43-year-old Bustamante posted the shortest game when he eliminated Spain’s David Alcaide, 10-1, while Roberto Gomez made no sweat in disposing Alex Lely of the Netherland in similar fashion, 10-1.
The two joined early winners, the promising Jeffrey de Luna and newcomer Joven Bustamante, who bested separate Filipino rivals to reach the elite round and assure themselves of at least a $3,000 purse in the $400,000-rich event.
After trailing, 0-1, Django Bustamante wasted no chance and scored 10 straight racks and had Alcaide sitting in his chair helplessly waiting for his turn at the table that never came in the 55-minute knockout encounter.
“As I said, the winner’s break is my favorite. I did it today because I don’t want to be overconfident. Mahirap na baka ma-tsambahan pa ako,” said Bustamante, who lost to Earl Strickland in the finals in Cardiff, Wales in 2002.
The 24-year-old De Luna showed enough maturity and poise down the stretch as he humbled a more seasoned veteran, Lee Van Corteza, 10-7, in the opening match, while Joven, a distant nephew of Francisco “Django,” came back from 1-5 down to beat another veteran Dennis Orcullo, 10-6, in table 5 to follow suit to the next round.
But as the two Bustamantes, De Luna and Gomez made it to the next round, It was not the same for Ramil Gallego, who lost to Kuo Po-Cheng, 5-10, in the other match. Thus Gallego followed Corteza and Orcullo to the exit door.
De Luna, who is seeing action for only the second time, found the hard break as the most potent weapon against Corteza’s soft break before a slim crowd at the Big Dome.
Meanwhile, Joven’s victory over Orcullo, a teammate in the Bugsy Promotion, was more memorable because it was his first in their three meetings this year. He lost to Orcullo in the World 8-Ball championship in the US early this year and also in the 2007 BSCP national open in April at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
De Luna will then face the winner between Efren “Bata” Reyes and Constantin Stepanov of Russia, while Joven will meet the winner between Fabio Petroni of Italy and 2005 champion Wu Chia-Ching of Chinese-Taipei in the Round-of-32.
Django will face the winner between Nick Van Den Berg of the Netherland and Imrad Majid of England, while Gomez will test the mettle against whoever wins between James Delahunty of Australia and Chao Fong-Pang of Chinese-Taipei.
But the day actually belong to Vietnam’s Luong Chi Dung, who forged the biggest upset thus far by eliminating 1991 and 2002 champion Earl Strickland, 10-8. (FCC)
