The US Open finalists become opponents again, returning champions meet new teammates, and ten individual careers converge on one team contest.
Francisco ‘Django’ Bustamante’s Team Asia will pursue a third successive Roobet Reyes Cup title at Makati Coliseum from 15–18 October. Ralf Souquet’s Team Rest of the World will try to stop them.
Asia retain three players from last year’s winning side. Their opponents combine two returning Reyes Cup players with three debutants, including familiar names from the Mosconi Cup. Across both rosters, this season’s results provide plenty of connections to follow.
Team Asia
Carlo Biado: a world champion with Reyes Cup history
Biado and AJ Manas shared the closing match of Asia’s 2025 victory, with the Black Tiger pocketing the winning nine. Both return, giving Bustamante two players who have experienced securing this trophy together.
Biado’s individual record includes the 2025 World Pool Championship title and 2021 US Open title, while August brought a Phoenix Open semi-final. His presence links Asia’s recent team success with achievement at the highest level of individual competition.
That history with Manas is especially relevant as two newcomers join the side. It gives fans a partnership to remember, although any reunion at the table will depend on Bustamante’s selections during the event.
Robbie Capito: the US Open finalist makes his debut
Capito arrives at his first Reyes Cup following a runner-up finish at the 2026 US Open. The player who finished above him, Francisco Sánchez Ruiz, will be in the opposing camp.
The Hong Kong ‘Sniper’ reached the final of an event in which three other members of this Rest of the World side—Aleksa Pecelj, Joshua Filler and Fedor Gorst—also made the last eight. Familiar individual opponents now form a collective challenge.
Capito is no stranger to Major success however, having landed the UK Open Pool Championship, coming through opponents Filler and Gorst to capture the gold in 2024.
His debut gives Asia another recent finalist alongside their returning champions. A meeting with Sánchez Ruiz would add a compelling link to August’s tournament, should the match schedule produce one.
AJ Manas: the MVP returns
Manas’s strongest reference point is the Reyes Cup itself. Named MVP on his debut in 2025, he also shared the title-clinching match with Biado. Bustamante has brought him back for a second appearance, building on last year’s heroics.
His individual season includes a last-16 finish at the 2026 Florida Open. That adds senior tournament experience to the team-event performance that introduced him to many viewers last October.
Manas has spoken publicly about gaining experience against the world’s best since that first Reyes Cup. Filipino fans now get to follow his return as an established member of the side, with Capito and Albert Januarta experiencing their own first appearances.
Duong Quoc Hoang: returning with an individual title
Duong enters his third consecutive Reyes Cup as the 2026 Premier League Pool champion. Sánchez Ruiz finished runner-up in February, while Januarta reached the semi-finals.
Those results create two different connections in Makati: Sánchez Ruiz remains an opponent, while Januarta joins Duong on Team Asia. A season spent pursuing individual results now gives way to a shared campaign.
Alongside Biado and Manas, Duong supplies continuity from last year’s winning lineup. For followers of the Vietnamese player, this return brings together the two strands of his recent career: success with Asia and a significant individual trophy of his own.
Albert Januarta: senior results behind the debut
Januarta’s progression from junior competition is part of his introduction, but his senior results deserve equal attention. He reached the Premier League Pool semi-finals in February, then made the quarter-finals in both Florida and Arizona during August.
A last-32 finish at the US Open followed. Across several events, he has already competed deep into fields containing established Tour players.
The Indonesian now joins Asia as Bustamante’s final Captain’s Pick. His first Reyes Cup puts that individual experience into a new setting: contributing alongside three returning champions and fellow debutant Capito, with a trophy shared by the whole team at stake.
Team Rest of the World
Francisco Sánchez Ruiz: the US Open champion returns
FSR brings two notable 2026 finishes to Manila: the US Open title and second place at Premier League Pool.
Asia’s lineup supplies a reminder of both events. Capito was the US Open runner-up; Duong won Premier League Pool. Those connections give fans recent reference points before the Reyes Cup match schedule is even announced.
Sánchez Ruiz also represented Rest of the World in 2025. Alongside Gorst, he provides direct experience of this competition within Souquet’s reshaped side. His role brings together a recent individual title and knowledge of the event his team is trying to win for the first time.
Shane Van Boening: a new event after a winning summer
Van Boening won the 2026 Florida Open and followed it with a semi-final appearance in Arizona. Those August finishes give his Reyes Cup debut a current competitive foundation alongside his extensive career record.
The event is new to him; team competition is familiar territory. His Mosconi Cup involvement dates back to 2007, with 2026 set to mark a record-setting 20th consecutive appearance in the trans-Atlantic spectacle.
The teammates will provide a different experience. Sánchez Ruiz and Filler, familiar figures on the European side of the Mosconi Cup, are now allies under Souquet. SVB’s first Reyes Cup is therefore both a new tournament and a chance to work with players usually across the team divide.
Joshua Filler brings team experience to Souquet’s side
Filler reached the US Open quarter-finals in August, joining Gorst in the last eight. He brings that recent result alongside extensive team experience.
A previous Mosconi Cup MVP with Europe, the German is making his Reyes Cup debut. Sánchez Ruiz is a familiar European teammate, while Van Boening and Gorst bring a different set of shared experiences into the lineup.
For Souquet, Filler combines that team background with recent tournament success. For viewers, the interest lies in seeing familiar Mosconi Cup relationships rearranged within this five-player side.
Fedor Gorst: first-hand experience of the challenge
Gorst returns from Rest of the World’s 2025 lineup, joining Sánchez Ruiz as one of two players retained for this edition. He has already experienced facing Asia in the Reyes Cup.
His individual record provides another link to the opposition: runner-up at the 2025 World Pool Championship, which Biado won. More recently, Gorst reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 US Open.
He has publicly expressed his determination to win on this return. With three new teammates under Souquet, the challenge is to turn those individual credentials and previous Reyes Cup experience into a different collective outcome.
Aleksa Pecelj: three August results explain the opportunity
Pecelj’s run through August brought victory at the Phoenix Open, second place in Arizona and a US Open semi-final. The sequence provides a clear introduction for viewers discovering him through his first Reyes Cup selection.
It also connects him to several players in Makati. Januarta made the Arizona quarter-finals, Van Boening reached the semi-finals there, and Capito advanced to the US Open final.
The Serbian therefore arrives with recent results against the backdrop of a familiar Tour field, even as this team assignment is new. His debut is an opportunity to build on that productive month alongside four established international competitors.
Experience the contest in Makati
The 2026 Roobet Reyes Cup takes place at Makati Coliseum from 15–18 October.
Get your Reyes Cup tickets to watch Asia pursue a third consecutive title against Rest of the World’s bid for a first. Fans following from home can visit WNT TV for viewing information.