NEWS - 08.15.03 – Challenge of Champions – Django for the second time



 

At the 13th edition of the Challenge of Champions played in the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut,
8 invited players competed for the winner’s cheque of $50.000. In the first round, the matches are traditionally played
in races to 7. I did not find my form and played a real bad match. But even if I did not play up to my possibilities, the 5-7 defeat against Canadian J. Horsfall was unnecessary, since he did not play well either this day.
In the second match, Englishman D. Peach played F. Bustamante (PHI).
In spite of some missed balls, Django kept control of the match and won with a little bit of luck 7-3. In the third match of the day, C.S. Yang from Taiwan lost 1-7 to E. Strickland (USA) and was far away from his best form. In the last first round match Dutchman N. van den Berg played defending champion E. Reyes (PHI). Efren took a rapid lead and always stayed one or two racks in front of his opponent.
After the Dutchman missed an easy 9 ball in rack 11, Efren won the match 7-4.

The semi-finals and the final were played in two sets in races to 5. In case of both players winning one set,
a single rack was played, the so-called Sudden Death. In the first semi-final, J. Horsfall played E. Strickland.
After leading 2-0 and trailing 2-4, the Canadian managed to win the first set 5-4. Strickland won the second set 5-2.
Horsfall gained the right to break for the Sudden Death rack and after a successful break, won the match with a 6-9 combination.
He entered the final and was waiting for the winner of the second semi-final between the two players from the Philippines,
E. Reyes and F. Bustamante.
The Magician had no success at his break shots and Django played an excellent match. He really deserved to enter for
the fourth time the final of the Challenge of Champions with his 5-3 and 5-1 win.
In the final, the first set was well balanced until 3-3.
At 4-3, Bustamante could benefit from a black break of his opponent and win the set 5-3. In set two, everything looked
like a clear win for Django. But Horsfall fought hard and all of a sudden, he took a 4-3 lead.
Bustamante had the chance to tie the set but missed an easy 5 ball.
But Horsfall imitated him and missed an even easier 6-9 combination which would have gained him the second set. The man from the Philippines tied the set. In the last rack, both players committed a mistake, but the Canadian was a bit more lucky with the position he left on the table. A bad safety shot by Bustamante made the outsider win the second set 5-4. Now, they had to play a single Sudden Death rack for the winner’s cheque of $ 50.000. Django gained the utmost important right to break and potted three balls at his break.
He had a difficult shot on the 1-ball, but managed a great shot to enter the rack. Being so close to win, he played the
remaining balls with a lot of composure and coolness and let his joy explode by yelling loud
after potting the last 9-ball of the event.
In the history of the Challenge of Champions, he is now the third player who won the event for the second time.