MANILA, Philippines – Former world No.1 Dennis Orcollo and former world champion Alex Pagulayan subdued their respective rivals to breeze into the next round of the ninth Annual Predator International 10-Ball Championship at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Nevada Tuesday.
Orcollo, who drew a bye in the opening round, demolished American Allen Hopkins, 10-2, to become the first player into the third round of the event offering $20,000 to the champion.
Pagulayan, on the other hand, trounced Melissa Little, a lady player from the US, 10-3, then routed Kurt Kobayashi, 10-5, in the next game.
Four other Filipinos hurdled their opening round assignments with Jose “Amang” Parica prevailing over Amalia Matas of Spain, 10-7, Rodolfo Luat beating David Alcaide, also of Spain, 10-7, Lee Van Corteza defeating Rafael Martinez, 10-6, and Roberto Gomez winning against Matt Krah via forfeiture.
Warren Kiamco also made it to the second round after drawing a bye.
Three more Filipinos are seeing action in the event organized by Dragon Promotions. They are Ramil Gallego, Santos Sambajon and Al Lapena who are still playing at presstime.
Meanwhile, Jasmin Ouschan of Austria and Vivian Villareal of the US dominated their male rivals to lead the women’s charge in the tournament that drew 112 of the world’s best cue artists.
Ouschan demolished Antonio Nieves of Portugal, 10-4, while Villareal brought down American Tommy Hernandez, 10-6.
Other fancied players in the fold are defending champion Tony Drago of Malta, former world 9-ball champions Ralf Souquet of Germany, Mika Immonen of Finland, Johnny Archer of USA and Daryl Peach of England, as well as Americans Shane Van Boening, Charlie Williams, Rodney Morris and Jeannette Lee and newly crowned World Pool Masters titlist Darren Appleton of England.