PBB faceoff: Reyes tests mettle of Taiwan ace

MANILA, Philippines—Efren “Bata” Reyes will try to weave his old magic in the 2012 Philippine Bigtime Billiards (PBB) Face Off Series dubbed as Philippines versus Asia this Saturday at the Pagcor Airport Casino in Parañaque.

The 57-year-old Hall of Famer, playing under the banner of Puyat Sports, tangles with two-time WPA World junior champion Ko Pin-yi of Taiwan in the resumption of the series organized by the Mega Sports World and BRKHRD Corp.

In his first PBB stint last Dec. 30, Reyes downed fellow two-time world champion Wu Jia-qiang (formerly Wu Chia-ching), 9-6. The top player of sportsman/businessman Aristeo “Putch” Puyat, is determined to score back-to-back wins.

“I trained hard so I can give a good show for the fans,” said Reyes, 1999 WPA World 9-ball and 2004 WPA World 8-Ball champion. Next on tap is the 22-year-old Ko versus Francisco “Django” Bustamante on Feb. 25.

The PBB will introduce a new format this year, according to Verna Mariano of BRKHRD and Bugsy Promotions.

“The events will maintain the one-on-one match format every week but each season will be composed of 17 weeks,” said Mariano.

Team Philippines is also composed of Dennis Orcollo, Ronato Alcano, Carlo Biado, Lee Vann Corteza, Alex Pagulayan and Antonio Lining.

Other members of the Asian team are Taiwan’s Chang Jung-lin, Yang Ching-shun and Chao Fong Pang, China’s Fu Jian Bo, Japan’s Yukio Akagariyama and Indonesia’s Ricky Yang.