Italy vs.. Philippines: World Cup of Pool 2009

Rules are rules.  There is a rule in pool that says any part of your body that touches a ball on the pool table is a foul, and will result in “ball in hand” for your opponent.

Well last night in the heat of a tight race to 8 in the World Pool Championships for a quarterfinal spot that rule played a big part in the outcome.  It was the Philippines vs. Italy.  The Philippines represented by Efren “Bata” Reyes, and Francisco “Django” Bustamante.  Italy represented by Fabio Petroni and Bruno Muratori.

It was a close race to 8 and with the Philippines up 6-4, but with Italy controlling the table and Bruno Muratori taking a seemingly uncomfortable shot, suddenly heard the word “foul” as his “arm hair” was supposedly touching the ball.  He protested a bit, but finally acceded to the referee’s ruling.  It was impossible him to have felt his “arm hair” touching the ball.  This meant Italy’s momentum was broken, and probably meant Muratori should shave his arms.  The commentator said that in his 20 years of watching billiards it was the first time that he ever heard that type of foul called.  

The Italian team pleaded for an overrule, but Cielo Lopez the referee who called the foul was in a very good spot to see the foul.

The Philippines went up 7-4.  Reyes had a dry break, with no balls going in, Italy cleaned up that table, and the Italians inched closer, 7-5.  However, Muratori’s break scratched leaving the Philippine team a chance to finish the match off.  They did just that, winning it with a score of 8-5.  However, the foul will forever be a big question, could it have meant a win for Italy, and will that mean too much hair in pool is bad?  No one can say for sure.  But Bruno Muratori will be probably staring at his arm hair for awhile and thinking what could have been…