DENNIS ORCOLLO recovered from five racks down to join seven other Filipinos to the round-of-32, even as Efren “Bata” Reyes made an early exit from the 2013 World 9-Ball Championships in Doha.
Orcollo nipped Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Yu Hsuan, 11-10, and moved into the round-of-32 after trailing by 2-7.
The Filipino won six straight racks after taking advantage of Cheng’s miss on the 7-ball in the 11th rack.
The momentum shift favored the Filipino who still needed to survive a hill-hill to advance.
“At the beginning he got lucky and I had a few dry breaks,” said Orcollo in an interview with the World Pool-Billiard Association.
“But I just stayed calm and I just waited for my chance. When he missed the seven ball, I knew right there that that was my chance. Instead of 8-3, it’s now 7-4. Then the balls turned against him,” Orcollo added.
Reyes, on the other hand, was eliminated by Nick Van den Berg, 5-11, as the Dutchman managed to find his way around the Filipino pool legend’s safety game.
“I had an answer on almost every safety he played,” Van den Berg said. “For the rest I played solid and my break is getting better.”
Carlo Biado, meanwhile, pulled off a stunner for a place in the next phase as he beat renowned German pool star and former world 9-ball champion Ralf Souquet, 11-5.
Marlon Manalo also continued his stellar run in the world tilt after a three-year absence, beating Omar Al Shaheen of Kuwait, 11-5.
Manalo is back in action after taking time off to concentrate on his barangay captain duties in Brgy. Malamig in Mandaluyong City.
Antonio Gabica also made it to the round-of-32, defeating Nguyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam, 11-8, while Israel Rota beat compatriot Mark Antony, 11-8.
Lee Van Corteza downed Manuel Gama of Portugal, 11-7; Jeff De Luna beat Niels Feijen of Netherlands, 11-9; and Ramil Gallego edged Enrique Rojas of Chile, 11-8.
But Marlon Villamor and Raymond Faroun exited in the tournament after defeats against Karl Boyles of Great Britain, 10-11, and Lo Li Wen of Chinese Taipei, 4-11, respectively.
Fil-Canadian Alex Pagulayan also lost to Mika Immonen of Finland, 6-11.
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