Bata off to hot start in Asian 9-ball

Efren "Bata" Reyes picked up from where he left off in Vietnam as he opened his bid for a second straight title with a 9-5 rout over Ricky Yang of Indonesia at the start of Bangkok leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour 2006 here at the Bang Na Hall in Thailand.

Coming off his triumph in the kickoff leg of the four-stage circuit n Vietnam last month, Reyes seized control early and took six of the first seven racks en route to victory in their Group 4 match.

Yang actually won three straight racks when he cashed in on Reyes’ uncharacteristic miscue on the blue 2 in the 10th frame of their race-to-9 match. But the Indon made a crucial scratch in the 12th rack, enabling Reyes to run out the table and stay on the hill, 8-4.

Yang still took the next rack, but the former world 9-ball champion ran out the table in the 14th rack to clinch the victory.

The 51-year old Reyes was to face Masaaki Tanaka of Japan later in the night with a victory to ensure the Filipino cue master’s stint in the quarterfinal round of this event sponsored by San Miguel Beer.

Earlier, Marlon Manalo and Ramil Gallego also came away with victories over their respective rivals with the former fighting off jet-lag and fatigue to boot out Nguyen Phuc Long of Vietnam, 9-4, in Group 2 and the latter scoring a come-from-behind 9-7 victory over local bet Mana Upraphai in Group 8 match.    

The fourth Filipino, Francisco "Django" Bustamante, was still playing Thai bet Tepwin Arunnath at press time.