Francisco ‘Django’ Bustamante has today finally lifted a world 9-ball crown that in an illustrious career had until now elluded him.

The Filipino star bested Taipei’s Kuo Po Chen 13-7 in the final and looked solid all week with some excellent wins.

The closest he had come in the past was in 2002 in Cardiff when he lost 17-15 to Earl Strickland in the final, this result co-insided with one of his most difficult periods, a few days before he received news that his 1-year-old daughter had died. Although he wanted to go home a number of people convinced him to stay on and he got to the final.

En route to this years final he beat Oliver Ortmann, Ko Pin Yi, Marlon Manalo, Felicilda and then Antonio Lining in the semi-finals.

The win is well deserved and players, fans and officials from within the industry will all be singing the praises of the new World 9-ball Pool Champion.

The reaction to this tournament in Qatar has been excellent and it has been a very exciting tournament due to the number of new names and the amount of champions eliminated early on. This tournament will grow from strength-to-strength and alongside two further world ranking events confirmed for the region, this one is in place until at least 2013.

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