8 Filipinos advance to Final 32, Bata out
Dennis “Robocop” Orcullo and Marlon “Marvelous Captain” Manalo barreled their way into the Final 32 of the World 9-Ball Championship on Wednesday, but Hall of Famer Efren “Bata” Reyes got the boot after losing to Nick Van den Berg of the Netherlands, 5-11 at the Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
“I had an answer on almost every safety he played,” Van den Berg told World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) officer Ted Lerner.
Orcullo, playing under the banner of Bugsy International Promotions, used his vast experience to nip Cheng Yu Hsuan of Chinese-Taipei, 11-10, in the Final 64. He will next face John Morra of Canada who downed Nick Malaj of Albania, 11-9.
“At the beginning, he got lucky and I had a few dry breaks,” Orcullo said. “But I just stayed calm and waited for my chance. When he missed the seven ball, I knew right there that was my chance. Instead of 8-3, it’s now 7-4. Then the balls turned against him.”
Manalo on the other hand, toppled Omar Al Shaheen of Kuwait, 11-5, to arrange a Final 32 bout against Fabio Petroni of Italy, winner over Dmitri Jungo of Switzerland, 11-6.
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Article continues after this advertisementSix more Filipinos advanced to the Round of 32 to keep alive their chances for the $36,000 top prize.
Lee Vann Corteza routed Manuel Gama of Portugal, 11-7; Israel Rota nipped countryman Mark Antony, 11-8; Antonio Gabica beat Nguyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam, 11-8; Jeffrey de Luna shocked Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, 11-9; Carlo Biado crushed Ralf Souquet of Germany, 11-5 and Ramil Gallego outplayed Enrique Rojas of Chile, 11-8.
Raymond Faraon, meantime bowed to Lo Li Wen of Chinese-Taipei, 4-11, while Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan, who is representing Canada yielded to Mika Immonen of Finland, 6-11.
In the Final 32, Gabica meets Oliver Ortmann of Germany, Corteza faces Daryl Peach of Great Britain, Rota battles Lo Li Wen of Chinese-Taipei, de Luna plays Mohammed Zulfikri of Indonesia, Biado squares off with Shane Van Boening of the US and Gallego slugs it out with Chris Melling of Great Britain.
