‘Bata’ dreams of Olympic medal before retiring

Winning every major title in the world, cue master Efren "Bata" Reyes is far from being contented. In a chat with GMANews.TV during the press conference of the 2006 World Pool Championship Thursday, Reyes said his dream before retiring from billiard competition is to win an Olympic gold in the sport that ahs brought him fame and fortune. "Of course, I would like to win an Olympic gold…that’s my greatest dream," Reyes said in Filipino. At 51, Reyes is aiming for his second World Pool Championship crown against a host of local and foreign world-class cue players. Reyes won his first title in 1999 in Cardiff, England. But it seems Reyes would have to wait a very long time before competing in the Olympics, where billiards has yet to be played. Worse, such may never come true at all. Yen Macabenta, Billiards and Snookers Congress of the Philippines secretary general, said that the international billiards federation, the World Pool Association, has been lobbying for the inclusion of billiards in the Olympics but has yet to get positive results. For now, Reyes would have to focus on the WPC title, currently the most prestigious championship in the world. "There is a great pressure on me because we are competing in our own country. If we (Filipinos) lose, it will be a great embarrassment," he said. "But rest assured, I will do my utmost best to win the crown," he added. Apart from Reyes, other Filipino cue players vying for the World Pool title are: Francisco "Django" Bustamante, Alex Pagulayan, Jeff de Luna, Roland Garcia, Santos Sambajon, Roberto Gomez, Eduardo Villanueva, Dennis Orcollo, Jose Parica, Antonio Lining, Marlon Manalo, Gandy Valle, Rodolfo Luat, Lee Van Corteza, Ronato Alcano and Ramil Gallego. Pagulayan is the 2004 world champion and current Philippine national champion while Manalo is the 2006 IPT North American Open 8-ball championship runner up. Valle is the Asian 9-ball Singapore champ, while Sambajon, Alcano and Garcia are qualifiers. Bustamante hopes to bag his first ever WPC title, having lost his chance when he finished runner-up in 2002. "I was so close to winning then but luck was not on my side. Hopefully, I’ll get it now." The Filipino campaigners will be facing a good number of determined foreign players hoping to win against on Philippine soil. Eleventh-seed Mika Immonem said he hopes to face Reyes in the finals and defeat him in front of his countrymen. "The dream is to meet Efren in the finals, beat him and break the hearts of the 80 million Filipinos," Immonem said. Even 17-year-old defending champion Wu Chia Ching of Chinese Taipei is gearing to defend his title. He even took a drastic weight-loss regimen as part of his training. "I lost about 60 pounds. I need that kind of training because the tournament is very demanding physically and mentally," said Wu through an interpreter. A total of 128 players from 42 countries are participating in the tournament, including Prince Muhtadee Billah of Brunei. - GMANews.TV