Bata, Django advance in KO stage of China Open

MANILA, Philippines -- Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco "Django" Bustamante scored decisive wins against their respective opponents to advance to the knockout stage of the China 9-ball Open at the Minya Hotel in Shanghai, China on Saturday.

Reyes, known as “The Magician” in the pool circuit, outplayed Takashi Uraoka of Japan, 11-7, in the do-or-die match in Group 5, while fellow Puyat Sports ace Bustamante edged reigning World 10-Ball champion Mika Immonen of Finland, 11-10, in Group 1.

With the win, Reyes barged into the knockout stage of the competition after surviving in the loser’s bracket while Bustamante finished undefeated in the group play match.


Following their steps were fellow Filipinos Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza, Marlon "Marvelous" Manalo, Antonio "Nickoy" Lining and Jeffrey “The Bull” de Luna.
Corteza edged Naoyuki Oi of Japan, 11-5, in Group 2.
Manalo routed Nguyen Phuc Long of Vietnam, 11-6, to dominate Group 8.
De Luna nipped Radoslaw Babica of Poland, 11-10, in Group 6.
Lining beat Oscar Dominguez of Mexico, 11-6, also in Group 6.
Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat, meantime, lost to Ruslan Chinakhov of Russia, 6-11, in the last seat of Group 5.
Luat, earlier ousted former World 10-Ball champ Darren Appleton of Great Britain, 11-10, in the loser's side.

Another Filipino Vinancio "Tukao" Tanio, who is carrying a United Arab Emirates flag, beat Rodney "The Rocket" Morris of the US, 11-10, in Group 8.

In women's play, Rubilen "Bingkay" Amit beat Yun Mi Lim of Korea, 9-7, in their rematch in Group 6 to advance to the next round. Amit earlier lost to Yun, 8-9, in the second round of the winner's bracket.
She rebounded by beating Veronique Menard of Canada, 9-0, and Sarah Rousey of the USA, 9-3, before getting back at Yun.