DENNIS Orcollo emerged as one of only four Pinoys who advanced to the knockout stages via the main bracket in a relatively disappointing Day Three for Filipinos in the World 9-Ball Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Orcollo defeated Tomasz Kaplan of Poland, 9-4, in Group 16 to formalize his entry into the round-of-64 where he will be joined by Antonio Gabica, Marlon Caneda and Israel Rota.
Gabica beat Dominic Jentsch of Germany, 9-7; Rota won over Abdullah Al Yousef of Kuwait, 9-5; and Caneda blanked Nick Ekonomopoulos of Greece, 9-0.
Former world champion Francisco “Django” Bustamente, however, was sent to the losers’ bracket along with several other Filipinos.
Bustamante bowed to Manuel Gama of Portugal, 6-9, in Group 11; Lee Van Orteza lost in his hill-hill match with Nick Malaj of Albania, 8-9, in Group 13; Ramil Gallego was beaten by Wang Can of China, 1-9; and Jeff De Luna was defeated by Mika Immonen of Finland, 6-9.
Marlon Manalo was outclassed by Omar Al Shahen of Kuwait, 1-9, in Group Two, while Raymund Faraon lost to Nick Van Den Berg of Netherlands, 6-9, in Group 12 play.
Efren “Bata” Reyes was sent to the one-loss side right on day one.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph