WPA world No.1 and reigning world 8-ball champion Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo, defending champion Jundel “Jano” Mazon and Carlo “Cool” Biado reached the round-of-32 of the 2011 Guinness World Series of Pool 10-Ball Challenge after scoring gutsy wins yesterday at the Mall Taman Anggrek in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Bislig, Surigao del Sur ace Orcollo, the top player of Perry Mariano’s Bugsy Promotions, ousted Adam Smith of Canada, 6-2, in their winners’ bracket match.
Orcollo immediately got down to serious business by scoring a run-out in the first rack. But the unheralded Canadian was able to keep pace with Orcollo in the early goings and before long, had the score knotted at 2-2 after four frames.
That however, proved to be Smith’s final challenge as he committed a foul in the 6th frame by cueing the pink 4. Orcollo pounced on his rival’s miscue and swept the remaining racks for the easy 6-2 victory.
“In this race-to-6 stage, it’s important that you start well. Any mistake can easily lead to a loss because it’s such a short game and the players competing are so talented,” Orcollo said.
“So far, I’m pleased with how I am playing and I look forward to bringing this momentum to the next round and hopefully all the way to the championship,” added Orcollo.
Meanwhile, the Marinduque native Mazon, playing under the banner of Jonathan Sy’s Negros Billiards Stable (NBS), never allowed his Indonesian rival to score on the way to an impressive 6-0 victory. Another Bugsy Promotions bet Biado from La Union province posted a come-from-behind 6-5 triumph over Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann.
Mazon and Biado join Orcollo in the next round.
Other players who have booked their spot in the round-of-32 include newly crowned world 9-ball champion Yukio Akagariyama of Japan who beat Ari Hartanto of Indonesia, 6-3; Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia who subdued Sahroni of Indonesia, 6-3 and Rudy Susanto of Indonesia who crushed Lum Wai Keong of Singapore, 6-4.
The prestigious tournament is organized by ESPN Star Sports.