Pinoys Corteza, Orcollo, Biado advance in World 9 Ball Championship
The Pinoy contingent once again displayed their mastery of the fine art of Pocket Billiards.
With just two exceptions, the Philippine's finest shooters cruised into the last 32 at the World Pool-Billiard Association's World 9 Ball Championship in Doha, Qatar.
Dennis Orcollo, Lee Van Corteza, Carlo Biado, Ramil Gallego, Marlon Manalo, Antonio Gabica, Jeff De Luna and Israel Rota are all still in contention for the title and US$36,000 top prize after winning on Wednesday.
Among the notable Pinoys, only former champs Efren Reyes and Alex Pagulayan fell by the wayside in the round of 64.
Orcollo was trailing Chinese Taipei's Cheng Yu Hsuan 7-2, and two racks later was about to go 8-3 down when Cheng missed a 7-ball. That proved the turning point as the world number 2 seized the initiative and, despite the alternate-break format, clawed to an 8-7 lead to the delight of the hundreds of OFW fans in attendance at the Al-Arabi Sports Club.
The Surigaonon eventually prevailed 11-10.
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“In the beginning he got lucky and I had a few dry breaks” said Orcollo. “But I just stayed calm and waited for my chance. When he missed the seven ball, I knew right there that that was my chance. Instead of 8-3 it became 7-4. Then the balls turned against him.”
Orcollo next faces Canadian John Morra, and should he prevail, will meet either defending champion Darren Appleton or 2003 champ Thorsten Hohmann in the round-of-16.
Lee Van Corteza had a much easier time in his round-of-64 clash with Manuel Gama of Portugal, emerging the winner via an 11-7 scoreline. The world number three now faces the 2007 champ, England's Daryl Peach. Peach defeated American Corey Deuel 11-10 in an encounter the Brit called “a real ding dong of a match.”
Carlo Biado is picked by many to be the next big thing in Pinoy Pool, and the La Union-born shooter from Quezon City didn't disappoint on Wednesday, disposing of 1996 champ and three-time finalist Ralf Souquet via an 11-5 score. Biado now matches up against top American Shane Van Boening, the reigning U.S. Open 9 Ball champ.
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Ramil Gallego is another Pinoy dark horse, and the Bacolodnon star was too much for Chilean Enrique Rojas. With an 11-8 victory, Gallego is now slated to meet England's Chris Melling.
Antonio Gabica, the Pinoy veteran who lives in Doha, waltzed into the round of 32 as well thanks to an 11-8 win over Nguyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam. The man nicknamed “Gaga” now squares off against the 1995 World 9 Ball champ, Germany's Oliver Ortmann. The winner of that match meets either Mika Immonen or Ko Pin Yi in the round of 16.
Former national Snooker player Marlon Manalo claims he is playing in his first Pool tournament in three years. The rust isn't showing as the Mandaluyong Barangay Captain stormed into the round of 32 on the back of an 11-5 trouncing of Omar Al-Shaheen of Kuwait. Manalo now meets Italian Fabio Petroni.
Jeff De Luna is very much in the game thanks to a solid 11-9 win over Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, a former Straight Pool (14.1) World Champion. De Luna now locks horns with Indonesian Muhammad Zulfikri.
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Unheralded Pinoy Israel Rota dumped countryman Mark Antony to reach the next round as well. He next dukes it out with Taiwanese-born Japanese Lo Li Wen.
Unfortunately Efren Reyes couldn't summon much magic on Wednesday, and he was felled by Nick Van Den Berg of the Netherlands, 11-5.
“I had an answer for every safety he played” said Van Den Berg on his Facebook page. The Dutchman's reward is a date with China's Wu Jia Qing, formerly known as Wu Chia Ching. The Taiwan-born Wu, the 2005 champ, has switched allegiances to mainland China. Wu repulsed Taiwanese legend Chao Fong Pang 11-8.
Filipino Canadian Alex Pagulayan, the 2004 champion, was shown the door by Mika Immonen, 11-5.
Thursday will see the round-of-32, round-of-16, and quarterfinals played. The semis and final wil take place on Friday.
In the last nine runnings of this event, Filipinos have featured in the final seven times, winning three of them. Reyes, Pagulayan, Ronnie Alcano and Francisco Bustamante are the only Filipino winners of this title.
View the tournament bracket here and visit the tournament's Facebook page here. Live streaming could be available on this link but that has yet to be confirmed. Here is the live scoring link.
Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333. Follow the World Pool-Billiard Association on Twitter @poolwpa. Special thanks to WPA Media Officer Ted Lerner for his invaluable help.
