In a true back and forth battle, Team Asia, led by Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante of the Philippines, Pin Yi Ko, Hui Chan Lu,and Teo Chee Soon edged out Team Europe of Ralf Souquet, Darren Appleton, Nick Van Den Berg, Imran Majid, and Ruslan Chinakhov by the narrowest of margins to win the 1st Asia vs. Europe Challenge Match held in Brunei January 15-17, 2010. Team Europe started the day on the right path as Souquet blanked Bata Reyes 5-0 to give Europe a 6-5 lead but Hui Chan Lu defeated Darren Appleton 5-2 to knot the score at 6-6. Majid upended Teo Chee Soon 5-3 to move Team Europe to the hill, but again Team Asia joined them there 7-7 when Ko defeated Chinakhov.
Team Asia collected $27,000 as the winner while Team Europe settled for $13,000 in runner up prize money
The deciding match came down to Francisco Bustamante vs. Nick Van Den Berg. Van Den Berg took an early 2-1 lead in this match, but, a break and run by Bustamante tied the score at 2-2 and from there, Django, from Tarlac, Philippines, got his momentum he needed to win and never looked back for a 5-2 win.
Day One of this 3day affair was scotch doubles matches all day long and although Team Europe held an early lead, Team Asia won the two matches to close the day with a 3-2 lead. Team Asia extended that lead to two matches at the start of day 2 when Hui Chan Lu defeated Imran Majid 5-4. The teams split the next two matches, giving Team Asia 5-3 lead with two matches left on day 2, but Van Den Berg’s 5-3 win over Efren Reyes, and Appleton’s 5-4 win over Pin Yi Ko left both teams tied at five with one day left to play.
Team Asia collected $27,000 as the winner while Team Europe settled for $13,000 in runner up prize money. Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante had to catch the first available flight out of Brunei back to Manila for a barely one day rest before boarding a Philippine Airline flight January 19 Tuesday to Los Angeles, California. I will be meeting them in the afternoon before heading to Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower. In behalf of Reyes, Bustamante, Santos Sambajon, Dennis Orcollo and other Filipino pool players, I would like to thank Mr. Tony Torres Sr. of Cerritos for accommodating us every time we are here in Los Angeles.
Also, I’m taking this opportunity to thank his son, Tony Jr. who manages Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, Ca. for his endless and continuous support especially for us Filipino pool players. Hard Times Billiards Sacramento is probably the largest and busiest Pool Hall in the West Coast. We also call this place “The Home of the Champions”. Sacramento is a well known place for great Pool Players. Every first weekend of each month, you can find and watch the best pool players in Northern California only at Hard Times Sacramento.
The Capital City has produced pool champions, to name a few: Austin Murphy, Tony Chohan, Amar Kang, Robert Aldana, Jeff Gregory, Jun Almoite, Deo Alpajora, Jaynard Orque, Gerry Jamito, Jim Fabionar, Joey Gebron, Billy Palmer, Mark Haddad, James Williams, Mark Tiu, Frank Nordmann, Paul Juarez, Jeff Heath and a lot more.