By Nelson Beltran (The Philippine Star)
MANILA, Philippines – Dennis Orcollo and Roberto Gomez toppled their Spanish rivals last night and host Philippines remained in the running for successive championships in the World Cup of Pool 2010 at the Midtown Wing of Robinson’s Place Manila.
Among those considered heirs to the RP pool throne, Orcollo and Gomez crushed the Spanish pair of David Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, 8-4, to stay in the hunt for the crown surrendered by compatriots Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante in a sorry loss Thursday night.
Orcollo and Gomez disposed off the Spaniards and set up a race-to-nine quarterfinals showdown with old Finnish rivals Mika Immonen and Markus Juva.
The young Filipino pool masters complemented one another in a decisive early roll, and had a big relief after defusing Spain’s late charge.
“It was a total team effort. There was so much pressure and we helped one another building our confidence,” said Orcollo, whose partnership with Ronnie Alcano made the semifinals last year.
“You saw us thumping our chests and doing other antics out there. It was our way to ease the pressure,” said Gomez.
The Filipinos were the first to get on board, and they went to the hill at 7-2 before committing errors, enabling the Spanish to hang on a little longer in the second-round match.
Fifth seed Germany, aching to go all the way to the top after placing second behind the Philippines last year, whitewashed Russia, 8-1, in their own Round of 16 setto.
Stepping up their game after a shaky 8-6 win over their Hong Kong rivals Tuesday, Ralf Souquet and Oliver Ortmann stormed past Konstantin Stepanov and Ruslan Chinakhov.
Later on, Poland pulled off a huge upset, beating second seed Team USA, 8-7, in a wild finish.
Radoslaw Babica and Mariusz Skoneczny had a solid start but wavered in the late racks enabling Rodney Morris and Johnny Archer to nearly overcome a 4-7 deficit.
Keeping their nerves in the crunch, Babica and Skoneczny survived a hill-hill encounter and booked a seat in the next round against the seventh ranked Taiwan team.
France and Finland stunned higher-ranked rivals Sweden and Holland, respectively, to likewise clinch berths in the quarters.
The French pair of Stephan Cohen and Francois Cottance survived a thrilling match with Englishmen Daryl Peach and Karl Boyes, winning the last two racks to get the match at 8-6.
Cunning and sharp, Immonen and Juva, meanwhile, simply outclassed Niels Feijen and Huidji See, 8-1.
Cohen and Cottance set up a quarters showdown with Souquet and Ortmann while Immonen and Juva arranged a quarters duel with the RP-B.
“A match with the Filipinos would be great. I would love that for the Filipino pool fans to see,” said Immonen, a former World 9-ball champion and regular fixture in Philippine pool events.
The Germans were the first to display a solid game in the day, winning the lag then racing to a 7-0 lead before yielding a rack to the Russians.
“It was almost perfect. I screwed up one position followed by Oliver missing a ball but they miscued so it came back straight to us. I’m satisfied but there’s still room for improvement and I still haven’t had my best game,” said Souquet, a multi-titled pool and snooker master.
“As long as we play this way, we will beat anybody,” said Ortmann.
“I expected a tough game with Russia but we played pretty good from the beginning so they didn’t have a chance to come into the game. It’s really important to win it from the beginning and that what we did,” Ortmann added.
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