Former world No. 1 Francisco “Django” Bustamante routed American Jonathan Smith, 100-41 yesterday, to advance to the knockout stage of the World 14.1 Straight Pool Championships at the Hilton East Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.Bustamante, aching to win a world billiards crown, will meet Arizona qualifier Bernie Pettipiece in the last 32. The winner of the Bustamante and Pettipiece match will go up against the winner of the all-American game between Danny Harriman and Mike Sigel in the “Sweet 16.” The biggest obstacle for Bustamante's world title bid are either Snooker specialist Raj Hundal of India or former World Pool Champion Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer of the United States in the quarter-final round, of the event hosted and organized by the Dragon Promotions headed by Charlie "The Korean Dragon" Williams. Bustamante of Tarlac City, and the 2002 World Pool Championships runner-up, finished with a 6-1 win-loss card in Bracket 5 of the group stage. Bustamante, who is fresh from winning the Blaze 9-Ball Tour Stop last August 23 to 24 at the Skyline billiards in Brooklyn, New York, suffered his only loss to American Dan Wallace, 100-67. Among Bustamante's victims include Tony Robles, 100-39, and Carmen Lambardo, 100-79, of the USA, Vincent Facquet of France, 100-43, and Martin Kempter of Austria, 100-2. Other players who advanced to the KO stage includes former World Pool Champions Mika "The Iceman" Immonen of Finland, Ralf "Kaiser" Souquet, Thorsten "The Hitman" Hohmann and Oliver "The Machine" Ortmann of Germany, ex-US Open 9-ball titlists John Schmidt, Corey "The Prince" Deuel of the USA, and reigning world women's No.1 player Jasmin Ouschan of Austria. Thomas "The Lean Machine" Engert of Germany, Nick Van Den Berg and Niels "The Terminator" Feijen of the Netherlands, Radoslaw Babica of Poland and Konstantin Stepanov of Russia. Correspondent MARLON BERNARDINO |
