MANILA, Philippines—The country’s finest pool sharks, led by the irrepressible Efren “Bata” Reyes, battle some of the world’s best starting Dec. 2 in the QC Invasion: Quezon City-Philippines vs the World Grand Villards Showdown at the Trinoma Mall.

Reyes will be joined in the RP roster by, among others, fellow former world champions Alex Pagulayan and Ronnie Alcano as they battle Team World in a Mosconi Cup-style event that will have singles, doubles and team matches.

Current World No. 1 Dennis Orcollo, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Roberto Gomez, Lee Van Corteza and Warren Kiamco are also in the Philippine squad, with former world champions Mika Immonen of Finland, Thorsten Hohmann of Germany and the exciting Wu Chia-ching of Taiwan bannering the foreign challenge.

“I’m supporting the whole event as part of my commitment to help further develop billiards in our country,” said Sen. Manny Villar, the chief backer of the event which was launched yesterday at the Quezon City Hall.

Other members of Team World are Rodney Morris and Charlie Williams of the United States, Yang Ching-shun of Chinese-Taipei, Raj Hundal of England and Fu Jianbo of China.

“You have a very strong team, but we are confident that we can win this event,” said Morris.

Besides bragging rights, a cash prize of $40,000 (about P2 million) awaits the winning team in this competition sponsored by Camella Communities and supported by the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP) and the Quezon City Tourism Council with Solar Sports, RPN-9, the Philippine Star and Business Mirror as media partners.

“We are very proud and honored to host this exciting showdown,” said Quezon City Council Majority Floor Leader Ariel Inton, the chief proponent of the billiards showdown, in yesterday’s press conference which was graced by QC Mayor Sonny Belmonte.

Also present at the conference were councilors Franz Pumaren, Jun Ferrer and Allan Francisco.

“We want Quezon City to be known in the world of sports and this tournament is just the start of our campaign to host more international sports events,” said Belmonte.