TEAM Philippines composed of Efren “Bata” Reyes, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Dennis Orcollo and Rubilen Amit routed Estonia, 5-1, Monday and cruised to the knockout stage of the 2012 World Pool Team Championships at the Tongzhou Luhe High School in Beijing, China.
Having beaten the Indonesians, 4-2, in Sunday’s opener, the Filipinos raised their total to 6.0 points and can afford to drop their Group A match against the Croatians Tuesday night and still qualify for the round of 16.
Croatia, however, should be a light assignment for the Filipinos who are being supported by local billiards “godfather” Putch Puyat and sportsman Perry Mariano, as the Croatians got swept by the Indonesians, 0-6, also Monday.
Indonesia and Croatia are tied with 3.0 points each while Estonia hogged the cellar with no points to show in Group A of the event that offers a total pot of $300,000. The champion team picks up $80,000.
Matching the Philippines’ 2-0 start and also advancing to the knockout stage starting Wednesday were title favorite Great Britain and darkhorse South Korea in Group E, China 1 and China 2, Chinese Taipei and Japan.
China 1, made up of Li Hewen, Fu Jianbao, Liu Haitao, Fu Xiaofang and Pan Xiaoting, bested Malaysia, 4-2, in Group B.
China 2 did even better as it dumped Singapore, 6-0, in Group C. The star-studded British side matched that whitewash against India in Group E.
In Group D, Japan eked out win No. 2 against Vietnam, 4-2.
Taiwan dumped Norway, 6-0, to qualify ahead of Germany in Group F.
The Germans, shrugging off a 3-3 draw with the Norwegians Sunday, blanked the Mongolians, 6-0, and moved nearer the final 16 with 4.0 points in Group F. Roy Luarca