Luat, Django pull thru; Bata out

Rodolfo Luat pulled off a stunning 9-3 win over reigning world champion and hometown favorite Wu Chia-Ching yesterday to advance to the semifinals of the San Miguel Beer Asian 9-Ball Tour in Kaoshiung, Taiwan.

Luat, known as "Boy Samson" in the pool circuit, won the opening rack of the race-to-nine contest before the young Taiwanese took charge by winning the next two.

But the Filipino proved hotter with his cue stick, racking up consecutive wins that shoved him way ahead, 7-2. The Taiwanese couldn’t stop the tide and eventually bowed out before his countrymen.

Francisco "Django" Bustamante also moved on to the semis following a 9-5 win over reigning Tour champion Yang Ching-Shun of Taipei, the player who earlier defeated Filipino Gandy Valle.

Yang swept the first three racks as Bustamante spent a lot of time on his chair. But once the opportunity arrived, the former world No.1 from Pampanga pounced on his opponent.

Bustamante leveled the count at 4-4 then allowed his opponent only one rack the rest of the way.

The victories of Luat and Bustamante made up for the painful loss of Efren "Bata" Reyes who fell to Masaki Tanaka of Japan, 6-9.

This is the only ranking tour in Asia with the top 10 players also qualifying to the World Pool Championship to be hosted by the Philippines for the first time in November.

A total tour prize money of $160,000 is staked in the four legs of the SMB Tour. Each win is worth $10,000, with the runner-up settling for $5,000.

The fourth and last leg will be held in Jakarta.