Bata overwhelms Dutchman, claims Tokyo 9-ball title

Former world champion Efren "Bata" Reyes overwhelmed Dutch Niels Feijen, 15-5, in a nerve-wracking finale and won a whopping $160,000 over a star-studded field in the Tokyo 9-ball International Billiard Tournament late last night.

The victory, coming barely a month after Reyes’ 13-5 conquest of Jeanette Lee of the United States at the Casino Filipino Parañaque, was the Filipino’s biggest in terms of prize money (about P8.3-million).

Feijen, who ousted Fung Pang Chao of Chinese Taipei, 13-8, in the other semis match, earned $64,000.

While the big guns continued to fall by the wayside in the knockout format which drew some 700 players from 32 countries, Reyes cast his old magic and demonstrated his complete mastery of the table while leading a Philippine charge into the quarterfinals where he was joined by last year’s Japan Open champion Antonio Lining and his Southeast Asian Games conqueror Warren Kiamco.

Reyes exacted revenge over Kiamco for his stunning defeat in last September’s SEA Games in Malaysia via a 13-5 rout after edging Lining in a much closer quarterfinal showdown, 13-11, in the Convention Center of the Sunshine City shopping and business center in Tokyo.

Kiamco pocketed $32,000 (P1.62 million) while Lining earned $16,000. (P810,000).

Among the fancied cue masters to get the axe early were US Open champion Corey Duel, former world champion Johnny Archer. Out early were five-time world champion Earl Strickland, Nic Varner and Kim Davenport along with European stars Ralf Souquet and Oliver Rotinann, 2001 World Pool champion Mika Immonen and the Philippines’ Francisco "Django" Bustamante