Orcollo scores sweet revenge Joins Cebuano shotmaker Gabica and Corteza into final 32 of World 9-ball tilt

CEBU, Philippines - Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo punched back at Andrew Kong in a more painful manner, booting out the cue master from Hong Kong via an 11-8 decision to ease through the last 32 knockout stage of the $300,000 2012 World 9-Ball Championship yesterday at the Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.

It was a sweet revenge for Orcollo, who was relegated into the loser's bracket by Kong, 5-9, in their Group 15 elimination match last Tuesday.

The Surigao City-native Orcollo, however, kept his hunt for the $40,000 grand prize alive by beating fellow countryman Raymund Faraon, 9-2.

When their paths crossed again, Orcollo still found Kong a tough coustomer to handle only this time he was resilient enough to grind through a three-point victory.

Orcollo, the highest ranked Filipino player at No.6 in the World Pool-Billiards Association (WPA) ratings, was joined into the next phase of the week-long tilt by Cebuano shotmaker Antonio "Gaga" Gabica and Lee Van Corteza. They are now assured of at least $3,500.

Gabica, who hails from Lapu-Lapu City and a one-time major awardee of the Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) for winning gold medal in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, outlasted Mario He of Austria, 11-7, while Corteza terminated Serge Das of Belgium, 11-4.

Another Cebuano cue master in Israel Rota was not as lucky as he crashed out of the world's biggest and most prestigous billiards event along with Marlon Caneda and Elvis Calasang.

Rota, ranked 131th in the world who is now working with the Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation, was bundled out by Xiang Hao Han of China, 8-11, Caneda got the axe from Nick Van Den Berg of The Netherlands, 6-11, while Calasang headed into the exit after bowing to John Morra of Canada, 7-11.

The other Filipino players in action as of this writing last night were Efren "Bata" Reyes vs. Lian han Toh of Singapore; Francisco "Django" Bustamante vs. Fong Pang Chao of Chinese-Taipei;Carlo Biado vs. Ohi Naoyuki of Japan; Joven Alba vs. Jung Lin Chang of Chinese-Taipei; Roberto Gomez vs. Haitao Liu of China; and Ronnie Alcano vs. Jundel Mazon in an all-Pinoy showdown. (FREEMAN)