PSA to honor Campo, 'Bata' in rites

MANILA, Philippines - Two giant figures in Philippine sports take their rightful place in the Hall of Fame of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) when it honors the top achievers of 2010 next month.

Billiards icon Efren “Bata” Reyes and the late former International Chess Federation (FIDE) president Florencio Campomanes are the latest personalities to be elevated in the pantheon of greatness during the PSA-Coca Cola Awards Night set March 5 at the Manila Hotel.

Both Reyes and Campomanes are part of the select list of awardees to be given tribute by the country’s oldest media organization during the glorious event backed by Accel, Harbour Centre, Nihao Mineral Resources International, Inc. and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

On top of the honor roll are 16th Asian Games gold medal winners Biboy Rivera, Dennis Orcollo, and Rey Saludar, along with Reyes’ long-time bosom buddy, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, the reigning World 9-Ball champion, all of whom will be the recipients of the coveted Athlete of the Year award.

The world men’s poomsae champion team of Anthony Matias and brothers Brian and Jean-Pierre Sabido, on the other hand, lead the 14 individuals to be handed out with major awards, while the National Sports Association (NSA) of the year will be bestowed on the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP).

Boxing superstar and five-time Athlete of the Year Manny Pacquiao was the last sports figure to be inducted into the PSA Hall of Fame. And on this special night, Reyes and Campomanes will finally be in his company.

The first ever man to reign as double world champion (world 9-ball and world 8-ball), Reyes is regarded as one of the sport’s all-time greats.

Referred to as “The Magician,” the 56-year-old cue artist was twice named Athlete of the Year by the PSA in 1999 and 2001 and became the first Asian to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame in 2003.

By the end of 2010, the prestigious United States Billiard Media Association named the native of Angeles City, Pampanga as Player of the Decade for his amazing stint in the last 10 years, beating out former world champions Johnny Archer of the US, Mika Immonen of Finland and Ralf Souquet of Germany for the title.

Reyes won more than 20 major pool titles during the decade, starting with his $30,000 Camel Pro 8-ball championship win in 2000. He also took the World 8-ball title in 2004 in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates and scored his biggest wins in the International Pool Tour (IPT), bagging two titles (2005 IPT King of the Hill and 2006 IPT North American Open) and pocketing $765,000.

As brilliant as Reyes was in the pool table, so was Campomanes in the field of chess.

Considered as the man who trail blazed Philippine chess, “Campo” was national master and two-time national champion who served as captain of the Philippine team to the 1966 Havana World Chess Championship.

He was also credited for co-founding the Philippine Chess Federation (predecessor of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines) and had a hand in promoting the chess careers of Eugene Torre, Asia’s first ever grandmaster, Rogelio Antonio, Bong Villamayor and Mark Paragua, among others.

But the man will be best remembered as the heavy underdog who defied the odds and ascended to the FIDE presidency in 1982, a position he held on until 1995.

A 2006 Lifetime Achievement awardee by the PSA, Campomanes quietly passed away on May 3 following a long bout with prostate cancer. He was 83.