Reyes Defeated by Uchigaki at World Pool Championship

Efren Reyes

A large crowd on the opening day of the 2007 World Pool Championship sat in silence as their hero was rooted to his chair as Uchigaki won four racks in a row.

He had a chance in the ninth rack with the score at 7-2 to Uchigaki, but a missed 7-ball proved costly for Reyes as his opponent then clinched the last two racks.

The 1999 World Champion had to win his second match, against Liu Cheng-chuan, or he would have been eliminated. Bata made his fans nervous again but held on for a 9-7 win.

Elsewhere, defending champion Ronnie Alcano was the first player to win a match in this year's competition with a comfortable 9-3 triumph over Saeed Ahmed Al-Mutawa of the United Arab Emirates.

Wu Chia-ching, the 2005 winner, also started with an early victory - a 9-4 success over Carlos Castro of Nicaragua.

Alex Lely lost a cracking match and missed out on a tie with Ronnie Alcano later today. Holland's Lely seemed to be cruising as he was up 6-0 against German Harald Stolka but the latter then fought back to go 6-8 ahead. Lely also lost the last as the German clinched a 9-8 victory.