Bata, Django enter quarterfinals to face Souquet, Hohmann
MANILA—A quarterfinal showdown serving as a rematch of the final two years ago has been forged in the 2011 Partypoker.Net World Cup of Pool.
Filipino legends Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante and the Germany tandem of Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet whipped separate rivals to set up a last eight duel at The Block at SM North.
Slowly regaining their ruthless form, Reyes and Bustamante dumped India’s Raj Hundal and Amar Kang, 8-5, Wednesday night, before Souquet and Hohmann joined them in the next round by overwhelming Malaysia’s Ibrahim Bin Amir and Patrick Ooi, 8-3, Friday.
Unseeded Koreans Lee Gun-jae and Hwang Yong continued their stirring run, after bundling out the ninth-ranked Japanese pair of Yukio Akagariyama and Lo Li-wen, 8-6, for a place in the quarterfinals in the event that stakes a champions’ purse of $60,000.
With the victory, the Koreans arranged a duel with Sweden’s Marcus Chamat and Thomas Mehtala, who ousted Switzerland’s Dimitri Jungo and Ronni Regli, 8-6.
Thailand’s Nitiwat Kanjanasri and Kobkit Palajin became the second unseeded pair to advance to the last eight, after eliminating Estonia’s Dennis Grabe and Erki Erm, 8-4.
The other Filipino pair of Dennis Orcollo and Ronnie Alcano were slated to face Canada’s Jason Klatt and John Morra for a place in the last eight last night. The winner will face the survivor of the match between Italy and Chinese-Taipei.
It will mark the first meeting between the Reyes-Bustamante duo and the Hohmann-Souquet tandem since their title duel two years ago won by the Filipinos. The match is scheduled at 6 p.m. Saturday.
While they would have wanted to face the Filipinos with the stakes higher, Hohmann and Souquet are welcoming the early duel.
“I’d rather be playing Philippines in the final but it will be a big revenge match and I think we’re playing better than two years ago,” said Hohmann, who bagged the Philippine Open 10-Ball title early this year.
Souquet still feels they should have won the final two years ago, after they led 9-7—only to lose 11-9.
“Beating two legends in the final in the Philippines would’ve been amazing and unfortunately we play a couple of rounds too early,” Souquet, winner of the World Pool Masters last Monday, said.
“Playing two legends in front of their home crowd maybe makes it tougher but tougher for them because they have more to lose than we do.”
While they played just good enough to hurdle Kuwait in the first round, Reyes and Bustamante played almost flawlessly to dispatch the Indians and assure themselves of $5,000 of the total pot of $250,000.
After splitting the first eight racks with India, the Filipinos won three straight racks by pouncing on an illegal break in the ninth, with Reyes potting the nine-ball from an awkward position in the 10th and breaking and running out in the 11th.
Kang bungled the yellow-1 from a difficult angle in the 13th rack and, with an easy layout, the Filipinos cleaned up to complete the victory before an enthusiastic flag-waving crowd.
