Billiards

The Reyes Cup: A Successful Experiment

By Bob Guerrero - October 21, 2024

The battle between Asia and Europe in the inaugural Reyes Cup turned out to be as good as everyone hoped it would be. Here’s what these four magical days revealed to us.

Team Asia were crowned the inaugural winners of the Reyes Cup in front of a rapturous crowd of several hundred at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium very early in the morning of October 19. Aloysius Yapp knocked in the winning nine ball to seal an emphatic 11-6 victory against Team Europe.

Holding this tournament was a bit of a risk for promoter Matchroom Sport. But the gamble of making a Mosconi Cup-style event featuring Asia paid off very well. There is a lot to unpack about this competition, and almost all of it bodes well for the sport both here and abroad.

There is a real hunger for world-class pool events among Filipino sports fans

I attended two nights of the Reyes Cup, the Wednesday evening session and the final night on Friday, which spilled into Saturday morning.

Wednesday had pretty good attendance, with most of the blue and red seats in the VIP section taken. There were plenty of folks in general admission right behind them facing the huge screens that showed the action. The throng was pretty rowdy, with fans loudly egging on both teams. I was particularly impressed with Asia’s Duong Quoc Hoang, who converted a tough run out to seal one match.

Thanks to a plethora of European errors the Asians had built up a commanding 9-3 lead by the close of Thursday’s play. That was just two short of the winning target. Presumably for fear of having the contest end early the organizers scrapped the last two matches on Thursday night and replaced them with a race-to-four exhibition between Django Bustamante and commentator Jeremy Jones, one of America’s best players back in the day. Therefore I thought that attendance on Friday might be thin since there was a possibility that there would be only two matches, both races to five, to watch on the final day if Asia won both. The general admission tickets were a rather dear P600, which I thought might disincentivize fans from showing up.

But I was not prepared for what I saw on Friday. The VIP section was full again, but the general admission horde had spilled over from beyond the back portion on to the sides. A remarkably high number of fans were wearing the official Team Asia souvenir shirts on sale. They were a very attractive gray and orange design.

The atmosphere was even more rambunctious on Friday. Fans held small placards in support of Johann Chua, and the spectators rabidly cheered on the other Asian players lustily, as if Ko Pin Yi, Duong, and Yapp had become honorary Filipinos for a week. The Europeans had a small but vocal contingent as well exhorting their squad with every rack won.

Many fans stayed until the last nine ball dropped at 2:00 am.

In an era where PBA games are often played in front of thousands of empty seats and traffic has made watching live sports a challenge, this was very impressive indeed.

There used to be tons of world-class pocket billiards events in the Philippines. We had world championships for men and women, and exhibitions featuring Reyes, Bustamante, Earl Strickland, and Johnny Archer. There was a series of “On Cue” tournaments staged by Puyat Sports. The San Miguel Asian Nine Ball Tour came to town regularly as well. The World Cup of Pool was held in Metro Manila four years in a row, from 2009 to 2012.

A lot of these competitions were held in malls, and attracted lots of spectators both in person and on TV screens. These events were big deals that attracted the finest players in the world.

The King’s Cup, theoretically a predecessor to the Reyes Cup that pitted East vs West teams, was held in 2015. That year Manny Pacquiao held a world 10 Ball championship in General Santos City. I cannot recall anything much like it after that until Sharks Billiards held a world ranking event last year. But that competition was done in their small made-for-TV arena in Quezon City, and was more for streaming than anything else. (That arena has since been renovated to allow a ring of spectators to watch. It is where the Sharks Billiards Association League finds its home.)

The Reyes Cup seems to have uncovered a tremendous yearning from Filipino fans for that bygone era. We have missed these huge pool events and the excitement they bring. There is a huge untapped market for these events. I hope this Reyes Cup kick starts a new era of tournaments in our backyard pitting the best of the world against the top Filipino pros.

Johann Chua could be the new poster boy for Philippine pool

Team Asia’s Johann Chua is in a unique position in Philippine sports. The 32-year old Bacolodnon is an extremely marketable player who could be a fantastic ambassador for billiards in the Philippines.

Chua is one of the best players in the world. He has won two international events already this year, in Shanghai and also the Hanoi Open, a World Nineball Tour ranking event, just before the Reyes Cup. Chua also won the World Cup of Pool last year with Dodong Aranas, and has captured the prestigious and historic All-Japan Championship twice.

Chua is a family man, devoted to his wife Geona and their two kids. He is as likable as they come, very well-spoken in English and Filipino, and still stepping into the prime of his career.

While I may not be an authority on the subject, I believe Chua would not look out of place on a Bench billboard on EDSA. I hope he gets a good agent who could get him more endorsements, especially those outside the pool world. The man called “Bad Koi” deserves wider attention. His Instagram following is a mere 16,700. He does better on Facebook, with 60,000 followers. These numbers should be exponentially more. Young phenom AJ Manas has 400,000 on Facebook, in case you are wondering.

What other Filipino male athlete is both elite in his sport and this marketable? EJ Obiena and Carlos Yulo come to mind. I struggle to think of anyone else.

With the likes of Chua as an avatar, pool’s image could be transformed in the Philippines. From being a sport associated with shady characters, a fresh face like Chua could uplift the game’s reputation and broaden its appeal.

Chua did not have a great Reyes Cup, losing his two doubles outings and one singles match. But it doesn’t matter. Chua is a proven champ and quite possibly a future world champion. His profile needs to be higher for the good of the sport.

The rift between the World Pool-Billiard Association and Matchroom hurt this event

While Europe battled back with three wins on the final day, the plain truth is that they were outplayed by the Asians. But it shouldn’t have been this way. This could have been a much closer and more exciting event.

World number one Joshua Filler of Germany was supposed to be the tip of the spear for the Europeans. But he was yanked from the lineup due to contractual issues, according to Matchroom. David Alcaide took his place and contributed, but Filler, an absolute stud of a player who has won almost everything in pool, would have made a difference.

If you are not following this story, the WPA, the governing body of pocket billiards, is in a civil war with Matchroom Sport, the game’s best promoter over the last two or three decades. I have not studied the situation enough and cannot give an informed opinion yet.

The two entities used to work very well with each other in many big events. But obviously something happened along the way to drive a wedge between them.

Basically there are events on the WPA calendar and a separate World Nineball Tour organized by Matchroom. WPA is not a fan of players playing on their events and also on the WNT so they have instituted a ban of over 200 players, which seems to have begun after the WNT’s Hanoi Open last week.

Filler, along with a bunch of top players, at first committed to not play in WPA events until WPA stopped its threat to ban players. But last month he played in and won the WPA’s World 8 Ball Championship in New Zealand. Filler plays with a Predator Cue and Predator sponsored that tournament. Perhaps he was really prevailed upon to join by his sponsor.

Matchroom then removed Filler from the Reyes Cup roster, initially citing “concerns with contractual obligations and team integrity,” then later revising the statement removing those specific provisions.

The divide is ugly and nasty and likely denied the fans a more competitive Reyes Cup. Here is hoping a compromise can be reached and the pool world can be one again. The sport and the fans deserve it.

Efren Reyes was the most popular player all week.

Efren Reyes’ immortality is even more secure than ever

He never attempted a single shot all week, (Alcaide jokingly tried to get him to shoot on Friday after being trapped in a horrible snooker), but his smiling, avuncular presence was a constant.

The Team Asia captain is already considered as the pocket billiards GOAT by many. It’s cool to think that fifty years from now, top Asian and European shooters could still be duking it out for that trophy, paying homage to one of the true icons of Philippine sport.

Kudos to Matchroom for giving this Filipino legend the most priceless of honors.

Images from Matchroom Pool.

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