Philippines II Join Bata & Django in World Cup of Pool Round Two

Dennis Orcollo and Roberto Gomez have made their way through to the second round of the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool as they laboured to overcome Croatia in front of another huge crowd at Robinsons Place in Manila.

The score was 8-4 but the Croatian pair of Phil Stojanovic and Karlo Dalmatin will rue their missed opportunities as a little bit of inexperience let them down.

Orcollo was presented with a superb crystal trophy in the arena in advance of the match in recognition of his superb win at the World Pool Masters in Las Vegas back in May.

There was big expectation as usual with another 2,000 plus crowd hanging off the balconies at the Mall but they were quieted as the Croatians stuck with their more illustrious opponents and found themselves all square at 4-4 at the half way point.

Dalmatin, the talented but inexperienced debutant is feeling the heat and a foul when his shirt touches a ball while cueing, gives the ninth game to the Philippines and takes the wind out of Croatian sails.

The Philippine pair started cut breaking and while it is a part success, the mistakes of their opponents allow them to coast to victory in what was a tricky encounter.

 "When you're there on the TV table it's different to the practise table,” said Orcollo.

"This format is really hard to play a hard break as you can make one ball but it can still be illegal.

"Now we can adjust for the next match and if the safety break doesn't work I will tell Roberto he can use the Weapons of Mass Destruction!"

Gomez added; "We're happy to win the first match but it was very important for us. The crowd gives you pressure but we can control our nerves. I think we can play better than this.

"Dennis made three illegal breaks and I made one but we still plan on using the soft break but next time we will put a bit more power in it.

"We were still trying it as we were ahead at the time but we still haven't figured it out. Maybe if we were behind we would use our power break.”

The heavyweight Taiwanese pairing of Jung-Lin Chang and Pin-Yi Ko put in an excellent performance to brush aside the challenge of Malaysia and advance to a second round meeting with Japan.

Despite their standing as one of pool's major nations over the previous two decades, Taiwan have never featured in the World Cup of Pool as a succession of lack-lustre pairings have made little impact on proceedings.

2010 though looks a different story with former two-time World Junior Champion Ko teaming up with Jung-lin Chang who has won a slew of major titles in Asia over the past few years.

Malaysia was represented by the perennial Ibrahim Bin Amir and Lee Poh Soon but neither carried sufficient fire power to deal with their opponents. The Taiwanese ran away with it with their opponents winning racks at 2-1 and 6-2.

With 32 teams representing 31 countries – home nation Philippines has two sides in the competition – the World Cup of Pool sees the gathering of some of the most decorated stars of the pool firmament. The event is taking place at Robinsons Place, in Ermita, Manila.

With a total purse of $250,000, the winning pair split $60,000 between them while first round losers are guaranteed $1,500 each. All the action will be carried live on Solar Sports in The Philippines and other broadcasters across the region.

First Round Results to Date

Russia 8–4 Canada
Indonesia 8-7 India
China 8–2 Belgium
Italy 8-6 Korea
Germany 8–4 Hong Kong
Philippines A 8-3 Thailand
England 8–7 Qatar
France 8-5 Australia
Japan 8–7 Slovenia
Poland 8-6 Malta
Taiwan 8–2 Malaysia
Philippines B 8-4 Croatia