Back to all news

Filipino pride soared high inside the Taipei gymnasium as Joven Bustamante managed to fly under the radar and orchestrate a magnificent come from behind, 9-7 victory against noted giant killer Ko Pin-Yi of Chinese-Taipei to barge into the final round of the Guinness 9ball Tour 2008 kick-off leg.
 
Up against Chinese-Taipei's hottest star, the odds against Tour debutant Bustamante were stacked against him.
 
But displaying tremendous form that allowed him to reach the quarterfinals of the ultra-competitive WPA World Pool Championship last year, Bustamante was able to capitalize on Ko's side-pocket miss on the three ball in the first rack and a green six flub in the second to jump the gun early, 2-0.
 
Luckily for Ko, the Filipino was forced to push out in the next rack which sparked a similar two rack run for the young Chinese-Taipei native.
 
With the full support of his family and the rest of the home-town crowd, Ko was able to build the momentum and go up to 7-5.
 
A fired up Ko and a two rack deficit going into the final stages of the match seemed to be create a hopeless scenario for for Bustamante. But apparently, a positive mindset was all that the Filipino needed.
 
"I knew I was down big but I thought that if I gave up chase now then that would be the end for me so to boost my confidence, I kept saying to myself that all I needed was one chance… One lucky break… One mistake from Ko and I will be able to win this thing."
 
Miraculously, that chance came in the very next rack.
 
Ko gave back table possession to Bustamante after a push out call. It was a surprising move from the Chinese-Taipei sensation since it was a relatively straight-forward side pocket jump shot on the two ball – A move that Ko was successful at all through out the three day competition organized by ESPN STAR Sports.
 
Standing his ground, the Filipino took his chances and went offensive, sinking the beautiful jump shot and in the process setting-up the easy run-out.
 
From there Bustamante never looked back as he proceeded to claim the next three racks to overtake Ko and bag the come-from-behind 9-7 victory.
 
"The pressure got to me. I think because I wanted to win the match so badly, I put additional pressure on myself and that did not help at all. But i'm sure there will be more chances next time so I just need to learn from my mistakes and apply that in future tournaments." A dissapointed Ko commented after the match.
 
In the other semifinal match, 2007 Grand Finals Champion Chang Jung-Lin was battling the 2007 Overall Tour Champion Yang Ching-Shun as of press time. Chang was leading the contest 7-3.

Back to all news