Sports bits

Souquet beats Bata at World Pool Masters

Legendary Efren "Bata" Reyes succumbed to mistakes as former world champion German Ralf Soquet neutralized his magic to bag the World Pool Masters title October 20 at the Woughton Center, Milton Keynes in England.

In a match lasting almost two hours, the magician from Angeles City, Pampanga never got his groove and Soquet capitalized on the uncanny errors to take away the title, 9-4.
Despite losing the lag, Reyes took the first leg but his wayward potting proved costly and Souquet zoomed into a 4-1 lead. A scratch in the next frame for Reyes handed the German the initiative which Souquet took his time to run-out. All throughout the match, Reyes was struggling for rhythm, letting the German off the hook with missed pots.

Souquet kept his composure and after Reyes scratched again off the break in the 12th frame, he reached the hill. With a clenched fist signalling his delight, the 33-year old from Manching in Germany, picked up the $15,000 first prize to cap a fine weekend's work.

FedEx Tour attracts veterans, rookies

The Air21 Express Tour Pilipinas has drawn hundreds of riders across the archipelago, enticing some former big guns and a slew of unknowns to compete in the 14-stage bike tournament to take off next year.

Perennial King of the Mountain in the 90's Carlo Guieb has reactivated himself from retirement while two-time champion Renato Dolosa penciled his name to take another stab at glory when the now-premier bike tour begins its qualifying stages on different dates.

Guieb, Dolosa and RP Team standout and former champion Victor Espiritu will lead more than 300 riders in pre-qualifying races on Nov.10 and 17 in Pililia, Rizal for Luzon aspirants and Nov. 23 in Argao, Cebu for Visayas and Mindanao hopefuls.

The 120 cyclists will be further trimmed down to 100 in a 180-km massed start from Antipolo City to Real, Quezon on December 1 before finally sorting out the best 80 riders from the pack after 150-km Individual Time Trial final qualifying race the following day.

Houston welcomes Yao Ming

Met at the airport by adoring fans, clamoring for his autograph, Yao Ming obliged many before being scootered to Compaq Center for pre-game introductions.

Yao was warmly introduced at mid-court by teammates, guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley.

Yao then greeted each of his new teammates and sat at the Rockets bench when the game started.

The Rockets made Yao the NBA's No. 1 draft pick in June but they had to wait through months of contract negotiations, releases from the Chinese government and competition in the Asian Games with the Chinese national team before he landed October 20 in time to see the Rockets play the Orlando Magic in an exhibition game.

Yao, who led the Chinese national team to a silver medal in the recent Asian Games, signed an agreement to return home for future international competition. His four-year contract with Houston is worth $17.8 million.

RP's Pastor becomes Asian F-3 champ

Enzo Pastor collared the Asian Formula Renault 2002 championship and became the first Filipino to win a major international motor racing series.

Pastor had officially clinched the title when the Formula Racing Development, Ltd. (FRD), the Hong Kong-based organizers of the Formula Renault 2002 Series, decided to cancel the final leg of the championship which was set to run alongside the Asian Formula Challenge Oct 27 at Subic.

According to Kenneth Ma, FRD president, the decision was made in order to allow some of the top competitors in the Asian Formula Renault Series to prepare for the rare chance to compete in the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix Nov. 27.

Pastor built a 22-point margin going into Subic over his closest rival, Fancky Cheng of China after scoring consecutive wins in the last two races at the Johor circuit in Malaysia. All he needed was to finish no lower than third in the final rounds to bag the title.

The latest development however automatically crowned Pastor the winner as he acquired the most number of points in the 12-race series with races taking place in China, Malaysia and the Philippines.

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