Bata, Django regain World Cup of Pool crown

Efren “Bata" Reyes and Francisco “Django" Bustamante didn’t disappoint, rallying back from two racks down to nip Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, 11-9, and regained the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool title before a jampacked crowd at the SM North Edsa Mall Sunday night. The two pool legends survived two grueling matches in a nine-hour span to win back the championship of the meet they first dominated during its inaugural staging in Wales in 2006. None was more important than their come-from-behind win over the deadly German pair in a game that saw the Filipinos bounce back from a 7-9 deficit.

“We started out strong, but slowed down a bit in the middle of the championship match. Good thing we’re able to get back our rhythm and win this one," said Bustamante. Reyes, a former world champion and regarded as the best pool artist ever to play the game, sank the winning 9-ball to the delight of the Filipino crowd. “Nakaka-nerbyos pa rin," he said after making the winning shot and then capping it by dancing to the cheers of the hometown fans. The celebrated Filipino pair won the $60,000 top prize from the total cash pot of $250,000 in the prestigious tourney. Souquet and Hohmann settled for the runner up prize of $30,000. Reyes and Bustamante earlier beat out China's Fu Jian-bo and Li He-wen in a classic hill-hill battle of the first semifinal match, 9-8. But Souquet and Hohmann denied an all-Filipino title showdown when they frustrated the other Filipino pair of Dennis Orcollo and Ronnie Alcano in the other semifinal pairing, 9-6. –GMANews.TV