Orcollo leads Pinoy charge at US Open

MANILA, Philippines — Dennis Orcollo led the way as Filipino bets made their presence felt at the start of the US Open Pool Championship Monday at the Hannah’s Resort in Atlantic City.

Orcollo swept past Honduras’ Miguel Angel Giron Mendieta, 9-0, to highlight a blazing performance for a Philippine contingent that went 10-of-11 in the opening round of the prestigious meet.

Johann Chua, fresh from a third-place finish in the Predator World 10-ball Championship, continued his fine form and overpowered American Steven Way, 9-1.

Carlo Biado, Roberto Gomez, Warren Kiamco, Jeff de Luna and Jeffrey Ignacio also dispatched their respective opponents from the US – Steve Fleming (9-2), Joseph Testa (9-7), Michael DeLawder (9-3), Edward Abraham (9-2) and Tyler Adolini (9-6).

James Aranas beat Japanese Sakura Muramatsu, 9-1, while Roland Garcia nipped American Nic Torraca, 9-2, and Daniel Dagotgot edged Indian Jaydev Zaveni, 9-7.

The only casualty was Dan Segui, who yielded to home bet Donnie Mills, 1-9, and eventually crashed out in the double-elimination format tourney with a 3-9 defeat to American Kang Lee in the losers’ bracket.