MANILA, 18 July 2003 — World-class billiards players Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante have expressed their willingness to banner the Philippine team in the Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam, set Dec. 5-13.

They are seeking inclusion to the national team and their handler has expressed confidence they can bag at least three gold medals in the biennial games.

As a matter of fact, AMF Puyat big boss Aristeo “Putch” Puyat has already written Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Celso Dayrit about Reyes and Bustamante’s interest in wearing the national colors again but with an option of choosing the events they want to play.

“Efren and Django are willing to forego any international tournament schedules that may conflict with their SEA Games commitment. They did that in the past, I don’t see any reason why they won’t do that again for flag and country,” Puyat said.

Puyat said the Filipinos can easily bring home three gold medals in the 8-ball and 9-ball individual events, as well as the 9-ball doubles events where the Philippines is setting out as the favorite due to the presence of world-class bets.

In the 2001 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, billiards brought home two gold medals courtesy of Kiamco and Lining in the 15-ball and nine-ball pool, respectively, while Reyes, who skipped the lucrative US Open, earned a silver with a loss to Kiamco in the 15-ball finals.

Of course, the memory of an early elimination in the 2002 Busan Asian Games is still fresh from the mind of Reyes. Playing in the carom 3-cushion in last year’s Asiad, Reyes bowed to Hui-Kai Hsia of Chinese-Taipei in the semifinals, 9-7.

A whistling performance in the 2002 World Pool Championships in Cardiff, Wales, earned for Bustamante a collective nod of approval from the Billiards and Snookers Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) for him to form the backbone of the country’s campaign in the Busan Asian Games last year.

Bustamante finished second to American pool great Earl ‘The Pearl’ Strickland in the 2002 World Pool Championships.

The BSCP initially did not want to include Bustamante to its Busan squad but apparently had a change of heart after the 38-year-old cuemaster rose above personal tragedy to place a fighting second in the world meet. The BSCP was impressed by the Filipino’s sentimental run in Cardiff, offered a spot to him a day before he lost to Strickland in the finals. Regarded as one of the world’s finest billiards players today, Bustamante immediately declared his willingness and readiness to play for flag and country in Busan.

His showing in Cardiff, indeed, triggered a sudden change of heart by the BSCP.

Bustamante returned from Cardiff to a sad home coming as he was grieving for his eight-year-old daughter’s death.

His achievement earned him 1.5 million pesos, but it was not enough to ease the pain of losing his only daughter Mariel, whom he regarded as his “lucky charm.”

She died just as the Cardiff event was reaching its crucial stages.

Mariel’s fragile body gave way to an attack of meningococcemia, a disease which usually strikes infants and is characterized by the presence of the meningococcic bacteria in the bloodstream.

For five days in Cardiff, Bustamante tried to put the image of Mariel, whose picture is always in his wallet, as a rallying point as he played against the world’s best of the best in billiards. He used her memory as inspiration in the trying matches that demanded his full skill and concentration.

Bustamante was named Player of the Year by the US magazine Billiards Digest in 1998 and earned the same honor from the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) a year later.

Among his major titles were the Japan Open, where he routed Ralf Souquet, 9-0, in the finals, the IBC World Tour in Munich, Germany, the 2002 Motolite World 9-ball Challenge at the Araneta Coliseum where he whipped American Corey Deuel, 13-8, in the finals, the World Pool Masters in Essex (UK) where he nipped Strickland, 7-6, in the finals, and the 1998 Tulsa 9-ball Open in Oklahoma.