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BASTA PINOY! SPORTS REVIEW

Reyes gets ax in world pool tilt

WALES, July 6  -- Defending champion Efren "Bata"
Reyes' title retention bid bit the dust when he lost to snooker legend Steve Davis of England, 9-8, in an upset that rockedyesterday's round-of-64 of the $250,000 World Pool Championship at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

Reyes zoomed to an early 8-2 lead but wilted to the pressure of Davis' comeback and lost his chance to keep the title he won last year in brilliant fashion.

With the loss of Reyes, only $50,000 Match of the Masters champion Leonardo "Dodong" Andam and Rodolfo "Boy Samson" as the country's only hopes in the tournament offering $60,000 to the champion.

The 30th ranked Luat, showing his brand of cue mastery, defeated 15th seed Michael Coltrain of the United States, 9-6, to advance to the round-of-32.

Reyes, bosom buddy Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Warren Kiamco will be reduced to mere spectators when Luat and Andam battle separate rivals for a spot in the quarterfinal round.

The reed-thin Luat squares off with Takeshi Okumura of Japan, who defeated Eric Wang of Taipei, 9-4, while Andam will face Chin Sun Yang of Taipei, a 9-2 winner over Tang Hoa of the United States.

Another Filipino Alex Pagulayan, who represents Canada, will face Alain Martel of Canada.
Bustamante, armed with his patented cue-shattering breaks, zoomed to an early 5-0 lead but Niels Feyen of the Netherlands bounced back with seven straight racks en route to a 9-6 victory.

Kiamco, for his part, was outclassed by Shin Young Park of Korea, 9-5.

Reyes, who is acknowledged by his peers to be the greatest pool player of the modern era and known in the US billiards circuit as "The Magician," looked unassailable as he broke and ran rack after rack to build an 8-2 lead.

But Davis, a 7-1 underdog before the match, got the chance he was looking for with a rare Reyes error on the 11th rack and sparked the greatest comeback of his life. 

Behind the support of the sell-out crowd, Davis, who still uses snooker cues, scored seven straight victories to claim the scalp of Reyes.

"When I finally got my chance I had nothing to lose, which in a way is the best place to be. I kept position and didn't gamble. I played safely when I had to and just made every ball," said Davis. "I loved every minute of it. In the world of pool I am a small fish in a big pond, but I'm getting bigger!" The six-time world snooker champion Davis, who admits that breaking is the biggest weakness of his game, will have a shot at
European No. 1 and recent Manila visitor Ralf Souquet of Germany, who won over Hui-Kai Hsia of Taipei,4-9.

In another big upset, 29-year-old Kevin "Dulwich Destroyer" Smith knocked out many-time Manila visitor and veteran Nick Varner of the United States, 9-7.

Varner, one of the most respected names in world pool and the No. 4 seed in the event, raced to an early 5-0 lead and things looked bleak for Smith.

But instead of waving the white flag, Smith battled his way back and tied the count at seven racks apiece then he went for the kill with two straight wins.

"I'm absolutely over the moon. At 5-0 down I just wanted to make sure I didn't get whitewashed because I couldn't have stood the embarassment at the pool club I play at," said Smith. "Things started to change for me though and even at 7-4 down I knew I could still win it."

Smith has American ace Earl "The Pearl" Strickland as opponent in the round-of-32.

Strickland, known as the "Bad Boy" of pool with his
tongue-wagging antics during games, asserted his dominance over Mario Lannoye of Belgium, 9-3.

Dominic Dale bid goodbye when he suffered a 9-6 defeat at the hands of Australian Johl Younger.
"I've really enjoyed the experience of playing here. Pool players are a different breed from the snooker lads but this is a good fun game for someone like me who is a full-time snooker player. It's a difficult game because it seems too easy," said Dale.

Welsh Pool star Rob McKenna's bid for glory was dashed when he lost to Martel, 9-2.

The huge local crowd which came in droves to support McKenna, were soon silenced as the Martel, kwown as the Dancing Bear, raced to an early 3-0 lead. McKenna had his flashes of brilliance when he chopped the deficit to 3-2.

From then on, it was all Martel as the classy Canadian reeled off rack after rack to the disappointment of McKenna and his supporters.

"I didn't really get going and, in all honesty I didn't play well. It was hard to concentrate in such an atmosphere. I'm over the moon that I qualified for the knock-out stages but I would have hoped to have gone further in the tournament," said McKenna. (SNS)

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