Orcollo, Gabica hold off tough Taiwanese

Manila, Philippines -  Dennis Orcollo and Antonio Gabica pulled off a pair of tough wins over their respective Taiwanese rivals to move into the Last 16 of the World 9-Ball Championship in Doha, Qatar yesterday.

Orcollo, who got back at Hong Kong’s Andrew Kong, 11-8, in the first round of the knockout stage, posted the same score in ousting Hsu Kai Lun in the race-to-11, alternate format to ease into the third round of the knockout phase.

Gabica, who held off Austria’s Mario He, 11-7, Wednesday, took two of the last three racks to escape with an 11-9 victory over Yang Ching Shung in their side of the duel.

Jundel Mazon, who humbled compatriot and former two-time world champion Ronnie Alcano, 11-9, Wednesday, joined Orcollo and Gabica in the next round as he smothered Russian Konstantin Stepanov, 11-3.

Mazon cashed in on Stepanov’s dry breaks and missed shots as he racked up seven straight frames in convincing fashion then took four of the next seven racks to cap his domination of the Russian.

But Efren “Bata” Reyes, who struggled past unfancied Toh Lian Han of Singapore, 11-6, in the first round of the knockout phase late Thursday, failed to join Orcollo, Gabica and Mazon in the next round as he blew a 10-8 lead and lost a hill-hill match to Dominic Jentsch of Germany, 11-9.

It was a heartbreaking setback for Reyes, who fought back from a 3-5 deficit to take an 8-5 lead only to commit a couple of errors that enabled Jentsch to come back and annex the next three frames to tie.

But the Filipino pool legend, watched by a decent crowd of Filipino overseas workers at the Al Sadd Sports Club, recovered by winning the next two frames to reach the hill but lost his poise and dropped the last three racks, allowing the German to snatch the thrilling victory for a spot in the Last 16.

Earlier, Lee Van Corteza bowed out with an 11-4 loss to veteran campaigner and former world champion Mika Immonen of Finland.

Eight of the 13 Filipinos who made it through the tournament proper succumbed to pressure and bowed out of contention, including Francisco “Django” Bustamante, who dropped an 11-6 setback to old rival Chao Fong Pang, also of Taiwan.

Marlon Caneda lost to Nick Van den Berg of the Netherlands, 11-6, Israel Rota dropped an 11-8 decision to Chinese Han Hao Xiang, Elvis Calasang succumbed to Canada’s John Morra, 11-7, Jovel Alba got clobbered by Taiwan’s Chang Jun Lin, 11-2, Carlo Biado dropped a hill-hill game to Japan’s Naoyuki Ohi, 11-10, and Roberto Gomez lost to Liu Haitao, also of China, 11-4.