"BATA" REYES WILL TRY TO BECOME THE FIRST FILIPINO TO WIN A TRIPLE CROWN IN BILLIARDS

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO

FILIPINO pool wizards Efren "Bata" Reyes will try to become the first
Filipino to win a triple crown in billiards when he competes in the
2011 World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) World 9-Ball Championship
at the Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha, Qatar on Friday.

Reyes, acknowledged one of the greatest player of all time and plays
for the Puyat Sports of sportsman/businessman Aristeo "Putch" Puyat
battles Mark Gray of Great Britain in Group 1.

He has won the World 9-Ball Championship and World 8-Ball title in
1999 and 2004, respectively. Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo, the reigning
World 8-Ball titlist will square off with Andrew Kong of Hongkong also
in Group 1.

Francisco "Django" Bustamante, also from Puyat Sports opened his title
retention bid against countryman Caneda Villamor in Group 4.

Bustamante, who was elected to the Billiards Congress of America Hall
of Fame after a convincing 13-7 triumph over Chinese-Taipei’s Kuo Po
Cheng in the
last year' edition.

2011 World Ten Ball semi-finalists Carlo "Cool" Biado from Perry
Mariano's Bugsy Promotions will meet Petri Makkonen of Finland in
Group 4.

Antonio "Ga-Ga" Gabica, the 2006 Doha Asian Games 9-ball gold medal
winner and 8-ball silver medallist, on the other hand will meet 2011
China Open Champion Chris Melling of Great Britain in Group 2.

A total of 128 players coming from 44 countries participate in the
$250,000 total pot prize tournament offering a $36,000 top purse. The
format divided into 16 group, each group compose of eight players with
four players advancing to the knock-out stage.

In other marquee Filipino match-ups, Roberto Gomez versus Manuel Gama
in Group 5, Oliver Medenilla versus Mohammad Al Harthi of Kingdom of
Saudia Arabia in Group 7, Jeffrey de Luna versus Hussain Jamil
Abdulwahed of Qatar in Group 8, Venancio Tanio versus Chang Jung lin
of Chinese-Taipei in Group 9, Francisco Olita versus Karl Boyes of
Great Britain in Group 9, Joven Alba versus Shane Van Boeing of the
United States in Group 10, Israel Rota versus Chang Yu lun of
Chinese-Taipei in Group 11, Allan Cuartero versus Mohamad Al Sofi of
Syria in Group 12, Lee Vann Corteza versus Rajn Hundal of Great
Britain in Group 12, Ronnie Alcano versus Hamzah Al Saeed of UAE in
Group 13, Raymond Faraon versus Radoslaw Babica of Poland in Group 13,
and Antonio Lining versus Liu Cheng Cheih of Chinese-Taipei in Group
16.