Latest News

Pagulayan tops World Summit of Pool

Alex Pagulayan flashed his old deadly form to beat Shane Van Boening of the US and win the World Summit of Pool Championship recently at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Called “The Lion” on the pool circuit, Pagulayan trounced the young American sensation in a fiercely contested finale by the score of 7-5.

It was sweet revenge for Filipino-Canadian who lost to Van Boening in the sicth round of the winners’ side of the event.

To get back to the contest, he had to fight the winner of the Warren Kiamco-FranciscoBustamante match. He made it to the finals by downing Bustamante, 7-5, in the losers’ bracket.

The win was worth $3200 for Pagulayan who won the World Pool Championship in 2004.



Happy day for Django
at Hard Times Tourney

Francisco “Django” Bustamante ruled the Hard Times Summer Jamboree 9-Ball Tournament late last week with a hard-fought win over reigning US Open Champion John Schmidt at the Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, California.

Earlier in the tough 72-man tournament, the 44-year old Bustamante also tripped Schmidt, 9-6. He received the top prize of $3500.

Barely two months ago, Django won the WPA Pro Tournament, besting the former world 9-ball champion Johnny Archer of the United States at the Normandie Casino in Los Angeles,Caliornia.

That victory gave Bustamante an outright berth to the main draw of the World Pool Championship in Manila this coming November.


World Pool moves to the Big Dome

From the Philippine International Convention Center to the Big Dome. The 2007 World Championship will be moving over to the Araneta Coliseum, known among Filipinos as the Big Dome, in Quezon City, when it is held there on Nov. 3-11. Over 200 players from at least 50 countries will be seeing action.

Heading the entries from the Philippines is reigning titlist Ronato Alcano, who won last year’s edition at the PICC in Pasay City in an exciting battle with German ace Ralf Soquet.

The 34-year old Alcano went on to become a double world champion when he topped the WPC 8-ball championship held in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. He duplicated the feat of Hall of Famer Efren Bata Reyes who won the1999 Cardiff WPC, and Taiwanese sensation Chia-ChingWu, the 2005 double world champ.

The formidable Philippine contingent to the WPC includes Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, 2004 Taiwan WPC champion Alex Pagulayan, 2005 WPC semifinalist Marlon Manalo, Lee Vann Corteza, Dennis Orcollo, Antonio Lining, Jeffrey de Luna, Ramil Gallego and Rodolfo Luat.


Django moves up to top rank

Francisco “Django” Bustamante is on a roll. Recently, he breezed through the Hard Times Summer Jamboree 9-Ball tilt and later the one-pocket division finale, jumping from sixth place to the top of the AZ Billiards player rankings. In the latter fight, Django subdued Tony Chohan of the US, 5-4

Bustamante wins came without a single loss. He racked up a total of 14 victories, seven from the 9-ball event, and another seven from the One-Pocket division.

The American sensation, Shane van Boening, last week’s leader, slipped to third place.

Holding on to the third spot is Efren “Bata” Reyes, with veteran American pool superstar Johnny Archer breathing down his neck at fourth place.


Orcollo tops Bill Staton Memorial

Filipino money game king Dennis Orcollo recently won the Bill Staton Memorial Tour championship, outplaying Park Shin Young of South Korea, 11-6.

The tournament, held from June 22 to 24 at the Q Masters Billiards in Virginia Beach, US, earned for Orcollo the top prize of $3000. Park, the Busan Asian Games gold medallist, settled for $2000.

Just a few weeks back, Orcollo topped the 2007 Enjoypool.com BCA 9-ball tournament.

American Jeff Abernathy took third place and Larry Nevel ended up fourth. Former US Open champion Gabe Owen came in fifth, while US-based Al Lapena finished ninth.

[All Articles by MARLON BERNARDINO]