Reyes tries RP to regain World Cup crown

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Philippines, which won the inaugural staging of the World Cup of Pool when bosom buddies Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante whipped the American tandem of Earl “The Pearl” Strickland and Rodney “The Rocket” Morris 13-5 in 2006 will try to regain the title this year.

This time around, Bustamante will team up with hotshot Dennis Orcollo to provide a formidable challlenge to 31 other teams from around the world when the tournament opens at Outland in Rotterdam, Holland on Oct. 7. The Filipinos appear to have a comparatively easy assignment in their first match against the Danish tandem of Martin Larsen and Kasper Kristoffersen. Larsen’s best showing so far this year has been a 17th place finish in the EuroTour in Paris while Kristoffersen’s most noteworthy performance was a 9th place finish at the Damas World 8-Ball Championship in Fujairah. Last year’s winners China will be once again represented by the talented duo of He-wen Li and JIan-bo Fu who scored a thrilling 11-10 win over the Finnish pair of Mika Immonen and Markus Juva. Luke Riches of Matchroom Sports which holds the World Cup of Pool franchise reported that Holland’s “A” team has a thrilling match in the opening round as they take on neighbors Belgium.

Nick Van Den Berg and Niels Feijen who are ranked fifth and sixth respectively in Europe, are among the favourites to win the title.

They will be backed by a large, passionate crowd as they begin their campaign against the Belgian duo of Serge Das and Noel Bruynooghe.

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