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Jeff de
Luna was once known in the local pool circuit as “The
Bull.”
“Madami
daw kasi akong sinusuwag,” he said.
Now,
call him “The Butcher.”
De Luna
lived up to his vow of dismantling anybody who would
come his way and ran over Lee Van Corteza to become the
first Filipino to barge into the Last 32 of the 2007
World Pool Championship (WPC) last night at the Araneta
Coliseum.
Backing
up his cockiness with a superb game that made him the
brightest among the sport’s rising stars, de Luna
bounced back from a slow start to slaughter Corteza,
10-7, and ignite the Philippines’ charge at the start of
the knockout phase of the $400,000 tournament dubbed
“the biggest pool show on earth.”
JEFF DE LUNA is playing
like he’s no longer “The Bull” of Philippine pool, but
“The Butcher.”
--NONOY LACZA
“Sinabi
ko naman sa inyo kakatayin ko siya, kaya ayan kinatay ko,”
said the 23-year-old Doha Asian Games silver medalist. “Nakauna
lang kasi siya kaya hindi ko natambakan.”
De Luna
won the opening rack, but a dry break forced him to
surrender the table to Corteza, who cleaned it up as
well and take the next three racks for a 4-1 lead.
But
Corteza scratched on his break in the sixth rack and de
Luna quickly took advantage of it by pocketing nine of
the next 12 to clinch the victory that put him in a
potential encounter with no less than Efren “Bata”
Reyes, who faced Russian Konstantin Stepanov last night.
“Kakatayin
ko rin siya. Basta kahit nga sino gagahasain ko,” de
Luna said.
Less
than a minute after de Luna hoisted his cue stick in
triumph, the sizeable hometown crowd once again
applauded as Joven Bustamante became the second Filipino
to advance into the Last 32 by beating compatriot and
stablemate Dennis Orcollo.
The
29-year-old Bustamante displayed the tenacity unusual of
a WPC debutant as he recovered from 1-5 down en route to
a 10-6 triumph that pushed his dream of becoming a world
champion a step closer to realization.
“Masayang-masaya
ako dahil buhay pa ’yung pag-asa na matupad ’yung
pangarap ng bawat isang billiards player,” said the
former University of the East electrical engineering
student. “Sayang nga lang at nagawa ko ’yun at
the expense ng isang kababayan natin na kasama ko pa
sa stable.”
Bustamante came into the match a heavy underdog against
Orcollo, who trounced him in the semifinals of the World
8-Ball Championship last August in the United Arab
Emirates and in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Billiards
and Snooker Congress of the Philippines National
Championship that same month.
“Akala
ko nga talo na ako nu’ng naka-five-one siya na
puro run-out ginawa niya. Pero inisip ko na hindi
dapat ako mawalan ng pag-asa, kaya tyinaga ko hanggang
sa pumabor sa akin ’yung bola,” explained Bustamante.
“Malas,”
was all Orcollo could say as the so-called Money-Game
King of the Philippines suffered his second straight
Last 64 exit in the tournament. He lost to Reyes last
year.
Francisco “Django” Bustamante and Roberto Gomez pad the
host country’s Last 32 bets to four with a similar 10-1
rout of Spain’s David Alcaide, 10-1, and the
Netherlands’ Alex Lely.
Not as
lucky was Ramil Gallego, who succumbed to Kuo Po-cheng
of Chinese-Taipei, 10-5, to join Corteza and Orcollo to
the exit.
All in
all, 13 of the original 15 Filipinos made it to the
knockout stage with only Antonio Lining and Rodolfo Luat
hitting the shower after the four-day Group Stage
matches.
Besides
Reyes, the other Filipinos who played in the Last 64
last night were defending champion Ronnie Alcano against
Daryl Peach of England, Alex Pagulayan opposite Pham
Tuan Ngoc of Vietnam, Leonardo Andam versus Wu Yu-lun of
Chinese-Taipei, Antonio “Gaga” Gabica against Shane Van
Boening of the United States and Marlon Manalo versus
Rodoslaw Babica of Poland.
Also
advancing to the Last 32 were last year’s runner-up Ralf
Suoquet, who slipped past Japanese Naoyuki Oi, 10-8;
Vietnamese Luong Chi-dung, who upended three-time
champion Earl Strickland, 10-8; Taiwanese Lee Kun-fang,
who trounced England’s Raj Hundal, 10-6; and Australian
Louis Condo, who demolished Chan Keng Kwan of Singapore,
10-2. |
