HEARTBREAK FOR DJANGO

PEACH BROKE THE HEART OF RP FANS, BEATS DJANGO IN CONTROVERSIAL GAME

ENGLISHMAN Daryl Peach broke the heart of the Filipino fans by beating
hometown favorite Francisco "Django" Bustamante, 11-10, in an
intense and controversial quarter-final game yesterday at the Big Dome
in the ongoing 2007 Philippine World Pool Championships.

Drama at the 20th rack took center stage when Django, thinking he had
won after successfully potting what looked like a one rail 3-9 carom,
was dumbfounded when veteran referee Nigel Rees of Wales stopped play
on the suspicion that the shot was a foul.

Consulting with the slow motion video replays verified Rees's
suspicions as the striped nine clearly budged first before the object
ball on the combination attempt justifying the judgment call.

Unhappy with the decision, Django tried desperately to plead his case,
even calling out World Pool Association Sports Director Thomas
Overbeck in the hopes of producing an overrule. However, after much
deliberation, the foul call was retained much to the disgust of local
fans rooting for their sentimental favorite.

Overbeck said: "I hated to be in that position. Me and Bustamante go a
long way back, but a foul's a foul and we can't be doing the players
any favors. Nigel (Rees) made a great decision - the right decision.
In the end it was his call to make and we should all respect that. It
was just unfortunate for Bustamante to go lose this way but this stuff
happens."

"The referee consulted me and Mikaela (Tabb) and he used the slow motion
in TV to decide the said situation.," said Overbeck.

When play resumed, it took all the heart and courage for an obviously
shaken up Peach to take over where Bustamante left off. But,
showcasing courage and heart befitting of a champion, the cue master
hailing from Blackpool , England silenced the hostile crowd as he
stroked true to clean the rack and bring the first quarterfinals of
the day to hill-hill.

Another flawless execution in the final frame saw Peach come away with
a cool and calculated break and run-out to crush the heart of the
popular Filipino and escape with the 11-10 victory.

Asked about the foul, an understandably disappointed Bustamante
commented: "If it was a foul, the referee should have made the call
right then and there. We should not have gone to the replay and tournament
director to sort these things out."


On the part of Peach, " I knew everybody wants the local player to win
but it's a fouled shot and we can see in TV replays," said Peach who also ousted
defending champ Ronato Alcano in the round-of-64.

Peach will face three-time WPA world junior champ Vilmos Foldes of
Hungary in the semi-final round, winner over 2001 WPC winner Mika "The
Iceman" Immonen ng Finland, 11-7.

Resuming the use of the controversial soft break at TV table 1,
Bustamante ran out in first try at the table.

But perhaps getting too comfortable with the predictable table
conditions, a hurried shot caused him to miss an apparent easy shot. This put Peach on the score board 1-1.

Rack three first break and run out for Peach.

Rack four, Bustamante leaves the pink four exposed after a long series
of safety exchanges which gave Peach an open table for a routine clean
up job to climb up and extend the lead, 3-1.

Two unforced errors of Django put 9-4 lead for Peach. A scratch in the
14th frame allowing Django to come back the game after clustering six
consecutive racks for a 10-9 lead before the controversy in the 20th
frame.

(Report from MARLON BERNARDINO)