Reyes weaves old cue magic
Posted: 0:32 AM (Manila Time) | May 10, 2004
By Roy Luarca
Inquirer News Service
TAIPEI - Filipino legend Efren "Bata" Reyes' magic is back.
Tested to the hilt, Reyes scraped past Korean Jeong Young Hwa, 12-10, Friday night to snare the fourth leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour here.
On the brink of defeat as he trailed 10-8 with the Korean breaking, the Filipino pool legend dug deep into his repertoire of tricks to claim his third Tour title after settling for third place in the Hong Kong leg.
Reyes had earlier ruled the Singapore and Ho Chi Minh stops of the circuit confined to the region's top players.
"It was tough, but I got the break in the end," said Reyes, who pocketed 10,000 dollars (about 560,000 pesos) for the effort. "Jeong is good."
Living up to his tag as "The Magician," Reyes displayed spectacular shots, including a quadruple-banked conversion on the fifth rack, a kicked shot on the seventh, a masse shot on the ninth, a triple-banker on the 16th and a pinpoint shot on the 21st rack.
The win widened Reyes' lead against Jeong, 6-1, in their personal duel.
Reyes downed countryman Warren Kiamco, 11-4, in the semifinals to arrange the showdown with Jeong, the Busan Asian Games silver medalist who is ranked ninth in the world.
The 32-year-old Jeong beat Thailand's Chatchawal Rutphae, 11-7, in the other semifinal match.
Against Kiamco, Reyes had little trouble.
A clean-up by Kiamco put the count at 6-4, but Reyes did the same in the 11th rack before going all the way with difficult safeties and pinpoint shots.
"I did nothing spectacular against Kiamco, the balls were simply dropping," said the 49-year-old Reyes, already enshrined in the billiards Hall of Fame.
It was the fourth semifinal stint for Kiamco, who earned 3,000 dollars (about 168,000 pesos), in the country-hopping event started by San Miguel Beer last year.
"He (Reyes) shot well and the balls were well in place," said the 34-year-old Cebuano, who also bowed to Reyes in the finals of last year's Manila leg and this year's Singapore leg of the 250,000-dollar Tour. "It's really hard to beat him."
En route to the semis, Reyes beat Fil-Indon Alwi, 9-5, countryman Lee Van Corteza, 9-6, and Korean Park Shin Young, 9-4, in the quarterfinals.
Kiamco's victims were Singaporean William Ang, 9-6, countryman Leonardo Andam, 9-5, and Fil-Malaysian Ibrahim Bin Amir, 9-4, in the quarterfinals.
Another Filipino, Antonio Gabica, reached the quarterfinals worth 1,750 dollars (about 98,000 pesos). Andam and Corteza made the round of 16 while Francisco "Django" Bustamante, currently the world's top-ranked player but in a three-month slump, suffered another first-round defeat.
Bustamante and Reyes will be leaving for the United States on Friday to compete in the Billiards Congress of America circuit.
Around 300 spectators, many of them Filipinos who were waving miniature Philippine flags, watched Sunday's action at the Leader Asia-Pacific Creativity Center.
The fifth and concluding leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour, organized by ESPN Star Sports Events Management Group, will be held in Manila at the Robinson's Galleria in Mandaluyong City from May 28-30.
