Front Page
 RP News  
 Community News
 Immigration
 Commentaries
 Business
 Sports 
 Entertainment
 Features
 Announcements
 News Archives

SPORTS
Links

Archived Sports Stories

Copyright ©1999, 2000 by Radio-TV Pilipino Network, Inc. All rights reserved. Radio-TV Pilipino™, Basta Pinoy!™ News and Asiana Post™ are trademarks of Radio-TV Pilipino, Inc. Terms of use. Privacy policy.

BASTA PINOY! SPORTS REVIEW

Luat advances to quaterfinals in billiards tilt

MANILA, July 8  -- Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat kept his march to glory going when he advanced to the last eight with an 11-6 victory over Ching Shun Yang of Chinese Taipei in the round-of-16 of the $250,000 World Pool Championship at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

The 42-year-old Luat, the only remnant of the five-man Puyat Sports Team, will have his first acid test when he takes on heavy favorite Earl "The Pearl" Strickland of the United States in the race-to-11 quarterfinal round.

Luat was the only remaining Filipino to vie for the $60,000 top purse with the early exit of defending champion Efren "Bata" Reyes, Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Leonardo "Dodong" Andam and Warren Kiamco.

Reyes, Bustamante and Kiamco were booted out in the round-of-64 while Andam, the $50,000 Match of the Masters champion, was defeated by Yang, 9-8, in the round-of-32.

Luat raced to a 5-0 lead before Yang came back to tie the count. But the Taiwanese missed the 8-ball in a clearance that allowed Luat to take a 6-5 lead. 

It was all Luat from there and he eventually ran out an 11-6 winner to book himself a place in the last eight and avenge the loss of Andam to the Taiwanese.

"It was not an easy match as he missed only a couple of balls but I played well," said Luat, a native of Pampanga whose only international recognition was a victory in the 1996 Camel 9-ball.

"I don't really care who I play next as I've played both Strickland and Toshikawa before and lost and won against both of them," Luat said.

"It is very sad that Francisco, Leonardo, Warren and Efren are out but we are a team and if I win then we all win. I feel some pressure that the people of the Philippines want me to win but the whole country will be behind me so I will be doing my very best for
them," he added.

Strickland, now the booksmakers' top pick with the departure of Reyes, gave Akukimo Toshikawa of Japan a neat lesson in cue artistry with an 11-4 victory.

Strickland, known as the "Bad Boy" of billiards with his tongue-waging exploits while playing, is the sentimental pick by oddsmaker over Luat.

But Luat, whose powerful breaks despite his reed-thin frame earned him the monicker "Boy Samson," said he is prepared to take on the flamboyant American.
"I faced him before and I am familiar with his style," said Luat, who defeated 15th seed Michal Coltrain of the United States in the round-of-32. "The foremost is that I shouldn't allow him to control the table or else I'll be in big trouble." (SNS)

REQUEST FOR A COMPLIMENTARY COPY

 Refresh your browser to make sure latest update is shown.
 News Items on this website are for private use and must not be reproduced, printed or reposted without our written permission.
copyright (c) 2000 by Radio-TV Pilipino Network, Inc.