INQUIRER Sports

BILLIARDS GRABS THE LOCAL sporting limelight again with the staging of the Second World 10-Ball Championship on Nov. 25 to 30 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

This tournament comes on the heels of the recent victory of Filipino pool idol Francisco ?Django? Bustamante in the All-Japan 9-Ball Championship where he trounced countryman Antonio ?Nickoy? Lining, 11-7, at the Hotel New Archaic Hall at Amagasaki-shi, Hyogo, Japan.

Bustamante pocketed the equivalent of P800,000 in the cash-rich annual event.

?Once again, congratulations, Django. You?ve made every Filipino proud,? said billiards benefactor Aristeo ?Putch? Puyat.

It was Django?s second international triumph since last September when he teamed up with the legendary Efren ?Bata? Reyes in reclaiming the PartyCasino.Net 2009 World Cup of Pool title at SM City North Annex. The highly regarded RP tandem topped the World Cup of Pool in 2006 during its launching at the Newport Center in Newport, South Wales.

?Although we?re old, we are still winning,? said Bustamante then. He is 45 while Reyes is 55.

But the past season was a big letdown for Django. He last won a major tournament in January 2007 when he topped the world-class Derby City Classic Master of the Table in the United States.

Bustamante started this year on a bright note. In the last Panagbenga tournament in Baguio City?the kickoff leg of the nationwide Manny Villar Cup?Bustamante beat world-ranked compatriot Roberto Gomez to start his comeback bid.

Django is best remembered because of his patriotic act during the 2002 World Pool Championship in Cardiff, Wales. In the title match against many-time world champion Earl Strickland of the US, a grief-stricken Bustamante did not abandon the game even after learning about the death of his seven-month-old daughter in the Philippines.

Strickland won the nerve-wracking match, 17-15, but Bustamante?s patriotic act stood out.

Yen Makabenta of Raya Sports, organizer of the Second World 10-Ball Championship, said the event is going to be the toughest tournament of the year.