MANILA, Philippines – Pool legend Efren “Bata” Reyes outshone Jeffrey “The Bull” de Luna, 11-2, in their rematch in the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) qualifying round for the Asian Games on Monday.

Reyes, a Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame inductee, even took a 6-1 lead over de Luna during their 8-ball finals clash at the Rizal Memorial Billiards Center in Manila.

“Pumabor ‘yung bola sa rematch na laro ko kay Jeff (de Luna). Malaking factor din naka-apat na run-out pa tayo kaya nakalayo agad tayo ng lamang sa kanya,” he said.

Reyes got a bye in the first round, subdued Mario “Aklan” Tolentino, 9-6, then lost to de Luna, 8-9, in the 3rd round of winner’s brackets.

He bounced back in the one-loss side by beating Ronnie “Volcano” Alcano (9-5), Warren “Warrior” Kiamco (9-6), and Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo (9-7) to arrange a rematch with de Luna.

De Luna, on the other hand, had a winning run over Francisco “Django” Bustamante (9-7), Ricky “Bai” Zerna (9-8), Reyes (9-8) and Orcollo (9-5) before losing to Reyes in the finals.

“Hopefully maganda sana performance natin sa Asian Games para muli tayong makapagbigay ng karangalan sa bayan,” added Reyes, who is playing under the banner of sportsman and businessman Aristeo “Putch” Puyat.

Puyat, for his part, noted: “We have very good chances winning the gold medals in the forthcoming Asian Games in China, so I expect our cue artists will perform well in the said quadrennial meet.”

Joining Reyes (8-ball and English billiards) in the main draw of the Asian Games in November are Orcollo (9-ball), Gomez (8-ball), Reynaldo Grandea (Carom), Rodolfo “Boy Samson” Luat (3-Cushion), Rubilen “Bingkay” Amit (9-ball), Irish Ranola (8-ball) and Mary Ann Basas (6-red ball). – by Marlon Bernardino