MANILA, 5 July — Billiard artist Efren “Bata” Reyes and bowler Paeng Nepomuceno might just get their wishes after all — that is to play for flag and country in the Olympic Games.

Billiards and bowling are two events the Philippines is fancied to have strong chance of ending the country’s hunt for its first Olympic gold.

Together with other fellow worthy campaigners in the two sports disciplines, they might be able to strut their stuff — or even capture the country’s first-ever gold medal — in the Olympics starting with the 2008 edition in Beijing.

This developed as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently decided to open the events played in the quadrennial Games for “review.”

More importantly, the sports of billiards and snooker and tenpin bowling got a fresh chance to be included in the Olympic Games.

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Celso Dayrit, who attended the International Olympic Committee-Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) meeting in Kuala Lumpur last month, welcomed the decision, saying it would pave the way for the possible “delisting” of some sports in the Olympic roster to accommodate new ones.

“This is a welcome news for us considering there are sports we’re good at, which might be included in the Olympic Games, like bowling and billiards,” said Dayrit.

Bowling and billiards are traditional gold mines for the Philippines, which remains obsessed to winning the first gold medal since joining the Games in 1924.

For the record, bowling has produced world champions in Nepomuceno, fellow Hall of Famer Bong Coo, and Arianne Cerdena, who won a gold when bowling was played as a demonstration sport in the 1988 edition of the Games in Seoul, South Korea.

Not to be outdone, there are vast resources of topnotch pool specialists, too, led by Reyes, the 1999 world champion, Django Bustamante and upcoming Lee Van Corteza.

Billiards and bowling are only two of 15 sports lobbying for inclusion, along with, among others, squash, karate, dancesport, netball, surfing and motor racing.

The IOC will meet again in November to deliberate on the sports already in the Olympic calendar and those still seeking entry. But any changes in the Olympiad roster would only be implemented by 2008 since the program for the 2004 Games in Athens is already in place.

Dayrit, however, said that for bowling, tenpin bowling and other sports to come in the IOC must drop some existing disciplines, a view also stressed by no less than IOC President Jacques Rogges himself.

He said the Olympic body will use four factors as bases for a sport’s exclusion or inclusion, namely universality, gender equity, media appeal and marketability and qualification of athletes from more countries.

“We have actually been lobbying for bowling and billiards since the term of former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. We’re hopeful that these events will eventually be included since they more or less meet the factors,” he said.

Billiards and bowling are just two of 15 sports seeking Olympic entry. Since the programs for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, have been set, the plans, if approved, will be put in motion in 2008 when Beijing takes its turn to host the Games.

The IOC executive board and the ANOC have agreed to set up a special commission earlier this year to study the current sports in the Games and audit their popularity.

Findings of this fact-finding group would be presented in another IOC meeting in Mexico in November for further evaluation.

Dayrit noted the Filipinos’ wining chances in the Beijing Games would be bolstered if host China gets its wish to hold the ancient martial art of wushu.

“China has been pushing for the inclusion of wushu and that’s one event we’re also strong at,” he said.

The Philippine wushu team has, in fact, been figuring strongly in the world championships, winning a merry mix of gold medals through the years, the last of which came from cudgel expert Mark Robert Rosales in 1997.

But for now, the Philippines is more focused on its campaign in the coming Busan Asian Games on Sept. 29-Oct. 14.

Earlier, the country’s campaign in Busan suffered a blow after Asiad organizers cut events where the Filipino ace Reyes is highly expected to dominate.

Reyes, known in the world of billiards as The Magician for his penchant for hitting close-to-impossible shots, is highly-favored to win three gold medals in Pusan.

Busan organizers have scrapped the 15-ball rotation event of billiards that imperiled Reyes’s unprecedented three-gold medal bid in his first stint in the quadrennial regional games. The 47-year-old Reyes has declared his willingness to play for the national team in his first Asian Games appearance

Actually, Reyes, who earned close to 14 million pesos from his tournament victories in major tournaments abroad last year, is skipping two big-moneyed competitions while declaring his readiness to spearhead the Filipinos’ bid in Pusan.

He is scratching off two tournaments in Japan to accommodate the Asiad in his itinerary.

Reyes said he would instead defend his title in the US Masters in May before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete in the BA Classic.

“For flag and country, I’ll be more than willing to cancel my trip to Japan. This is a call of duty that’s why I really would like to play in Busan,” he said.

But surely winning inthe Asiad won’t be as easy as plucking the gold in the SEA Games, Reyes admitted.

And although Filipinos would be among the top favorites in the Asiad, Reyes said it would not be easy sailing in Pusan.

“In Pusan, many world-class billiards players will participate, especially those coming from Chinese Taipei. I heard they have already 50 world-caliber players. Then we can’t ignore those Japanese. Of course, the Koreans won’t allow themselves to be beaten easily in their country. It would be tough, but we’ll fight for the gold,” he said.

The tournament format would also be a factor, too, Reyes noted. “If the matches will last longer than expected, we’ll have a good chance of beating the opposition.”

He is setting his sights on winning the gold medals in 15-ball, 8-ball and one-cushion carom. Unfortunately, Pusan limited to 10 the events in the sportó8-ball in pocket billiards; 3-cushion and balk line (18-1) in carom; singles and doubles in English billiards; singles and doubles in 9-ball; and singles, doubles and team in snooker.

Reyes, the reigning World Pool League champion, had wanted his third gold medal to come from the one-cushion carom, but last-minute changes made by organizers in Pusan — balk line instead of the one-cushion event ñ dealt The Magician’s goal bid a solid blow.

“Perhaps the organizers would not like him (Reyes) to dominate, that is why they scrapped the 15-ball. But that’s normally a privilege of the hosts,” said Ernesto Fajardo, president of the Billiards and Snookers Congress of the Philippines (BSCP).

Fajardo also lamented the Pusan organizers’ decision to limit to one entry per country for each of the billiards and snooker events.

In previous games, each team had two entries each, according to Fajardo.

Despite Reyes’ declaration of playing in as many events possible, he was conscious it would offend other players on the team, particularly Lee Van Corteza, Warren Kiamco and Antonio Lining. But in as far as selecting players to play on a particular event was concerned, Fajardo said the other players would be giving way to Reyes, whom they all consider to be their “hero.”

“The others look up to Bata and we do not see much of a problem on that. But the bscp would come up with the best team possible so much so that we could bring home more gold medals out of Busan,” said Fajardo.

Billiards, even without Reyes around, was responsible for winning the lone gold medal for the Philippine contingent in the 1998 edition of the Asiad in Bangkok, Thailand, courtesy of Romeo Villanueva and Gandy Valle, who won the 9-ball doubles event.

Nepomuceno, a four-time World Cup champion, has just made his comeback this year and is determined to spearhead the country’s bid in Pusan.

Interestingly, Nepomuceno, who skipped last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia due to a shoulder injury, is expected to be a shoo-in in the 12-man team the Philippine Bowling Congress intends to send to the Asiad.

He has told PBC officials he would be 100 percent fit for the Busan Games, unlike last year when a painful shoulder forced him to beg off from the Philippine team to the SEA Games.

His career appeared on its dead-end after a complicated surgery on his left wrist kept him out of the limelight in late 1999, but he was able to play in international events again in 2001.