INQUIRER Sports

FRANCISCO ?Django? Bustamante defeated compatriot Antonio ?Nickoy? Lining, 11-7, in an all-Pinoy final to win the 2009 All Japan 9-Ball Championship at the Hotel New Archaic Hall in Amagasaki-shi, Hyogo, Japan, on Sunday.

Bustamante, playing under the banner of sportsman/ businessman Aristeo ?Putch? Puyat of Puyat Sports, earned 2 Million Yen (roughly P800,000). It was Bustamante?s second major championship after taking the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool title in partnership with Efren ?Bata? Reyes last September.

To gain a slot to the championship round, Bustamante defeated last year?s WPA world junior champion Ko Pin-yi of Chinese-Taipei, 11-8, and countryman Warren ?Warrior? Kiamco, 11-9, in the semifinals.

The Pasil, Cebu-native Kiamco had a chance to tie the game at 10-all but failed to sink the No.1 ball in the 20th rack allowing Bustamante to escape with the narrow victory.

Lining, member of the rising Negros Billiard Stable of businessman Jonathan Sy, received Y1 million (roughly P400,000), while Kiamco and Kuo Po Cheng of Chinese-Taipei earned Y500,000 (roughly P200,000) each.

The fierce international field included double world champions (WPA 9-ball and WPA 8-ball ) Efren ?Bata? Reyes and Ralf Souquet of Germany, former All Japan champion Lee Vann ?The Slayer? Corteza, ex-WPA 9-ball runner-up Chang Pei WEi of Chinese-Taipei, Hijikata Hayato and Keisuke Hanawa of the host country, among others.