Bata, Django gain KO stage

MANILA, Philippines - Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante sustained their fine form and demolished their respective rivals to advance to the knockout stage of the World 9-Ball Championship in Doha, Qatar yesterday.

Reyes followed up his 9-3 romp over Phillip Stajanovic of Croatia with a 9-2 rout of Al Awadi Bader of Kuwait while Bustamante, who downed Chinese Lo Li-wen, 9-7, toppled local bet Al Yousuf Abdullah of UAE, 9-4.

“I just got lucky,” said Reyes. “He’s a good player but he never got a good shot after a break.”

Other Filipino aces who advanced to the tournament proper were Lee Vann Corteza, Ronnie Alcano, Antonio Gabica, Carlo Biado and Roberto Gomez. Corteza beat compatriot Marlon Caneda, 9-5; Alcano edged Hunter Lombardi of the USA, 9-8, Gabica tripped Dennis Grabe of Estonia, 9-7; Biado dominated Roman Hybler of Czech Republic, 9-3; and Gomez routed Mohammed Saeed of Qatar, 9-1.

But Dennis Orcollo, Ramil Gallego, Raymund Faraon, Joyme Vicente and Jundel Mazon lost their respective matches and dropped to the loser’s side with Caneda, Elvis Calasang, Joven Alba and Israel Rota.

Orcollo was stunned by Andrew Kong of Hong Kong, 9-5; Gallego lost to Tony Drago of Malta, 9-6; Faraon bowed to Johnny Martinez of Venezuela, 9-8, Vicente dropped a 9-8 decision to John Morra of Canada, and Mazon succumbed to Vincent Facquet of France, 9-5.

Orcollo, however, remains confident of his chances to gain a spot in the Last 64 as he goes up against Faraon. In other matches, it will be Vicente against Hudiji See of the Netherlands, Gallego versus Hsu Kai Lun of Chinese-Taipei; Mazon against Shane Van Boening of the US, Calasang versus Al Amar Abdul Rahman of Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, Caneda against Ceri Worts of New Zealand, Alba versus Alba Nayf Abdel Afou of Jordan and Rota against David Anderson of Republic of South Africa.