Rising pool star Joven Bustamante hopes to continue his surge to the top of billiards echelon when he competes in the opening leg of the 2008 Guinness 9-Ball Tour, which starts tomorrow (Feb.29) at the Taipei Gymnasium in Taiwan’s capital.

The 29-year-old Bustamante, along with former world champion Alex Pagulayan, was handpicked tour organizer, ESPN-Star Sports, as one of the Irish stout beer’s endorsers during the six-leg series of competitions featuring the finest in Asia.

He is currently ranked sixth in the world ranking by the World Pool-Billiard Association, just behind two other Filipinos in Dennis Orcollo (no.1) and former double world champion Ronnie Alcano (no.3).

Bustamante and Pagulayan will banner the Philippines’ mission of ending the Chinese-Taipei dominance in this tour, which has a total pot of $320,000 (P12.8-million) and 10 slots to this year’s WPC.

The Taiwanese swept all the tour stops last year, and will be back with an even formidable line-up, led by defending overall champion Chang Jung-Lin, former world titlist Wu Chia-ching, teenage sensation Ko Pin-yi, Yang Ching-shun, Wang Hung-Hsiang and Chang Pei-wei.

Sanctioned by the Asian Professional Billards Union (APBU), the event will also have players from Malaysia , Indonesia , Singapore, Vietnam , Korea , Japan , Thailand , India  and China.

Winners of each leg will take home US$15,000 while the Grand Final Champion will walk away with US$36,000.*

back to top

Loptta embarking on year-round program
Marapara grabs Founders’ lead
Filipinos in 9-ball tour start campaign