ORCULLO SPEARHEAD AGAIN TEAM PHILIPPINES INTO A VICTORY

Orcullo, the reigning International Predator 10-ball champion toppled Norway’s hopeful Tommy Wolf (7-1) in the third and last featured 10-ball competition to prevent a possible play off match and underlines his status as the country’s top 10-ball player.

“Buti na lamang nanalo si Dennis kay Tommy. Kung hindi mag tabla pa sana ang match at mapuwersa pa sa isang tie breaker,” said Bugsy Promotions president Ceferino “Perry” Mariano.

“Tama ang una kong sinabi na huwag silang mag overconfidence kasi hindi maiiwasan ang mga upset,” added Perry Mariano, founder of Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP).

The Nationals swept the 8-ball Scotch Doubles competitions as the pair of WPA 9-ball and WPA 8-ball ruler Ronato Alcano and former snooker champion Marlon Manalo as well two-time BSCP National Pool Championships ruler Lee Vann Corteza and Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Warren Kiamco won their matches by scores of 6-5 and 6-3, respectively.

Then Alcano followed 8-2 demolition over Vegar Kristiansen in 9-ball to take RP’s 3-0 lead in the race-to-4 affair.

However, the “never say die attitude” of the Norweigian put their team in contention after Malvin Bjelland edged Japan based Antonio “Nickoy” Lining (8-7) in 9-ball while Mats Schjetne prevailed over Corteza (7-4) in 10-ball to close the match at 3-2 count that went down to the last match as Orcullo racked the important win against Wolf (7-1) to escape a narrow 4-2 triumph.

“Malaki ang pag-asa na makapasok ang National team natin sa finals. Malalim kasi ang bench natin. Puro de kalibre at mga world class player ang mga player natin,” he said.

BMPAP co-founder and Negros Billiards Stable (NBS) president Jonathan “Bacolod” Sy added: “Sana pumabor ang bola ulit sa atin. Kamuntikan na tayo sa Norway,”

The Filipinos, earlier beat Great Britain II, 4-0, and Czech Republic, 4-1, respectively, to face Norway.

With the win, the six-man Philippine Team is schedule to meet Poland late Friday (Manila Time) for the semi-finals berths. Poland led by Radoslaw Babica blasted Finland (4-0) with reigning World Ten Ball champion Mika Immonen at the helm.

The 48-nation tournament, the first of its kind and sanctioned by the World Pool Billiard Association (WPA), stakes a total purse of $400,000 (roughly P19.2 million) and uses a point-system scoring patterned after the famous Davis Cup in international tennis where the champion team gets the lion’s share of $100,000 (roughly P4.7 million).

Also cruising to the next stage (Last were Russia, Germany II, Great Britain, China, Switzerland and Greece.

Russia bannered by Ruslan Chinahov and Konstantin Stepanov downed Denmark (4-2); Germany II at the helm is former world pool champion Oliver Ortmann defeated Sweden (4-3); Great Britain led by world 9-ball champion Daryl Peach and ex-world 10-ball champion Darren Appleton blanked Germany (4-0) of WPA 9-ball and WPA 8-ball champion Ralf Souquet and WPA 9-ball champion Thorsten Hohmann; China of Li He-wen and Fu Jian Bo thwarted Serbia (4-1); Switzerland of Dimitri Jungo outclassed Japan (4-1) and Greece shocked tournament favorites United States (4-3) in a neck-to-neck battle. The United States is composed of another world champion Johnny Archer, and former US champions Corey Deuel and Shane Van Boening.