These days, players simply 'jump' past venerable Bata
November 03, 2007 02:43:00
Musong R. Castillo
Inquirer
Aside from Father Time telling him that he's lost some of the touch that made him a Hall of Famer, Efren "Bata" Reyes believes that one very accepted piece of equipment has given the other players an advantage over him--the jump cue.
"I was really unbeatable in the 1980s," Reyes, 53 and a grandfather to a girl and a boy, told a handful of scribes in Filipino Friday during the most recent launch of the 2007 World Pool Championships.
"That was because I can play any safety shot and give my opponents a hard time," Reyes, the 1999 world champ, added. "At this day and age, no amount of cover (on the cue ball) can give you an advantage, because players can just jump the balls and hit their targets."