INQUIRER Sports

Efren ?Bata? Reyes and Francisco ?Django? Bustamante are out, but another unforgettable thriller in the making could be a repeat mano-a-mano between Superman and King Rat in the World 10-Ball championships.

The Rat tore the highly favored Superman to shreds in their last encounter in the World 9-Ball Championship at the Araneta Coliseum in 2007.

Bata and Django, who fell one after the other in the 2007 championship, are not seeing action this year, but a greater development is the obvious thawing of the cold war between two mighty factions in Philippine billiards.

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This pleasant twist surfaced earlier with the announcement that former world No. 1 Dennis Orcollo will be seeing action in the world championship that started Wednesday at the World Trade Center in Peewee Trinidad?s Pasay City.

Also listed in that original list were Lee Van Corteza and Marlon Manalo.

Of course, there was bigger applause from avid pool fans Wednesday after Cedelf Tupas reported that Roning Calamba, better known all over the world as Ronnie Alcano, a two-time world champion, has joined the RP contingent.

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Yen Makabenta, head of the organizing Raya Sports, confirmed that they have indeed started to mend fences with the other faction, represented by Puyat Sports, which is allied with the Bugsy team of Perry Mariano.

With practically only the mighty twosome of Bata and Django not joining the RP assault, Makabenta is optimistic a Filipino could again figure in the championship.

How Makabenta wished the mighty twosome, winner of the World Cup of Pool last September, was also in.

So what?s this thing about Superman and the Rat?

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Remember Roberto Gomez, he with the Superman cowlick and heaving chest who figured in the championship against Englishman Daryl Peach at the full-house Araneta Coliseum in 2007?

Please note that in that colorful and exciting 2007 contest to the top of the pool world, Bata and Django also tried their luck.

Bata got waylaid before Django got entangled in an excruciating semifinal duel against Peach.

Django had appeared headed for another great win and a seat in the finals, until he overshot and fouled off the top rail in the deciding match.

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Left next to fight it out for the world title were Peach and a virtual unknown by the name of Roberto Gomez.

By the time he had arranged a title duel with Peach, fans already knew that it was Bata Reyes himself who had given Gomez, an Ilongo, the moniker Superman.

Anyway, Superman, who was also absent last year, no thanks to that useless pool turf war, is back.

And just like in 2007, Gomez made it to this year?s tournament proper through the back door, meaning he made it after squeezing through the tough qualifier at Sebastian Chua?s Star Paper parlor off Araneta Avenue in Quezon City.

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In that 2007 Gomez-Peach shootout, the Filipino bet blazed ahead and appeared headed for a historic finish.

Until the championship hit the crucial finishing matches, when Gomez, visibly shaking in his shoes, proceeded to issue the most hideous shots, crushing misses of easy straight pockets.

Superman also got called Boy Kabog and the Greatchoke.

As Bata Reyes would explain, it happens to the best of them.

Bata said all of them have to stand up to the invisible, unpredictable challenge from King Rat, who quietly gnaws at a player?s composure and nerves at the most unexpected moment.