No one would have thought that at the age of nearly 70, a player who has passed almost all the peaks in the world of billiards, could continue to compete at a top level. But Efren “Bata” Reyes is not an ordinary person. At the age of 68, people still see him quietly entering the table with a gentle smile, his hands shaking slightly over the years, but his eyes are still as sharp as a razor - the eyes of an immortal legend.
And at an exhibition tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia, the unthinkable happened. While the young local players were full of enthusiasm, full of vitality and confidence, wanting to defeat the "old man" from the Philippines, they were the ones who were stunned by the magic that Efren Reyes created.
Right from the first shots, the field fell silent. A seemingly simple safe shot, but under Efren's hands, it turned into a "magic show". The young Indonesian player, who was considered to have a bright future, stood still when he saw Reyes's "kick shot" hit the target ball by going around a corner of the table and through three cushions, making the ball hit the target ball with just the right amount of force, so perfect that the whole audience gasped.
A quiet audience member whispered: "How can someone at this age still see such shots?"
And that was just the beginning. The whole match was a series of unbelievable shots - from "massé", "jump shots", to three-cushion, four-cushion lines, Reyes made it impossible for his opponent to reach the table. Sometimes, he even stopped to laugh, pointing to the ball's position as if he was teaching - but that only made everything more amazing. Because after each "pointing", there was a perfectly accurate shot.
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The most memorable situation came in the fourth game. Reyes was forced into an extremely difficult situation – the white ball was close to the bench, the target ball was in a far corner, blocked by two other balls. It seemed like he had to “play it safe” or hit it randomly. But Reyes did something no one expected.
He hit a “reverse spin” – an extremely difficult technique with a narrow angle – causing the white ball to slide through the narrow gap between the two blocking balls, lightly hitting the target ball and pushing it into the pocket. The crowd exploded, and the young Indonesian player could only sigh, nod and clap his hands – as if to acknowledge that he had just witnessed a miracle.
The tournament host then exclaimed:
"This is no longer a sport. This is art. And Efren is the greatest artist we have ever known!"
What surprised the Indonesian audience was not only Reyes' extraordinary technique, but also his calm, simple demeanor. Not arrogant, not showing off, he just smiled quietly and talked to everyone as if he had done nothing special. After the match, he signed shirts, held the hands of the young players and encouraged them in a mixture of English and Tagalog – but everyone understood the emotions coming from his heart.
The Indonesian players, in interviews after the match, all said the same thing: “We don’t feel like we lost, but we learned. We witnessed something great.”
Some middle-aged fans in the stands were in tears. Because for them, Reyes is a living memory. The man who laid the foundation for Asian billiards, the man who inspired many generations. And today, he continues to do that – not with titles, but with his own trembling but magical hands.
The Indonesian media immediately reported heavily on the match. They called it “the night of legendary shots”, and praised Reyes as “the immortal wizard”. A sports journalist even wrote:
"It's not Indonesia that loses, but we all win - win because we get to see a genius perform at an age when he should be resting."
Reyes once said in an interview:
"I don't play to win - I play to spread the beauty of billiards."
And today, he did it again - in a strange place, with young people full of ambition - Reyes not only defeated his opponent, he made the whole audience silent, take off his hat, and listen to the voice of class, of timeless greatness.
For ordinary people, 68 is a limit. But for Reyes - it's just a number. He is still "Bata", the boy who used to play billiards on the dusty streets of Manila. And that boy has never left - it's just that now, he brings with him decades of experience, thousands of games, and the heart of a lifelong artist who loves the billiard table.
When the lights went out, Reyes left the field to a standing ovation. No one said much – because really, there was nothing left to say. A performance that transcended all barriers of age, physical strength, and even time. It was then that the legend once again affirmed: "Technique can be trained. Genius is one. And Efren Reyes – the living definition of that word."
