MANILA-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Oct. 2 she will play pool against Brunei Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah during his official visit here next month. The friendly game takes place three days after the 2006 World Pool Championship in Manila from Nov. 4 to 12, Mrs. Arroyo announced after awarding pool champions Efren Reyes the Order of Lakandula Champion for Life and Francisco Bustamante the Presidential Medal of Merit
“You two have elevated this sport from
local billiard halls to the world hall of fame," she said after Reyes and
Bustamante played some exhibition games.
“Truly, this is a pool day for us in the Philippines.”
Reyes said he and Bustamante would be with Mrs. Arroyo’s team when they faced
Billah, a pool enthusiast who has played in previous Southeast Asian Games
representing Brunei.
Reyes has just won the IPT World 8-Ball
Championship and the Asian 9-Ball Tour. But yesterday the 52-year-old
‘magician’ could not sink his balls properly, prompting Bustamante to say he
could have won their previous matches had Reyes made the same bad shots.
The President herself tried her hand at
the table thrice, and all three times she sank her balls. The crowd roared when
she used the bridge during a particularly hard shot.
“I sank the balls during all three
attempts,” she told Presidential chief-of-staff Michael Defensor after the
ceremony.
“I don't really play billiards, but they
[Reyes and Bustamante] taught me earlier how to do it."
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