All but one make grade for Team RP

CARDIFF, Wales – Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat and Dennis Orcullo swept their last two matches in the group eliminations Tuesday, giving the Philippines a starting field of eight players as the 2002 World Pool Championship shifts to matchplay beginning Wednesday at the Cardiff International Arena here.

The Philippines emerged from the elims nearly unscathed with only Leonardo "Dodong" Andam the lone casualty after a disastrous two-loss finish in Group 11 play. He ended up sixth in the group with a 3-4 win-loss card – his last defeat ironically suffered at the hands of Luat.

Luat, who pulled off a 5-1 win over Mario Morra of Canada early in the day, completed a 5-2 slate for second place. Orcullo drubbed Russian Evgenji Stalev, 5-1, then blanked Irish Tommy Donlon, 5-0, as he also ended up with a 5-2 card for first place in Group 10.

So impressive were the Filipinos in the elims, they wound up either first or second in their respective groups – except Andam.

Efren "Bata" Reyes (Group 5), Francisco "Django" Bustamante (Group 7), Antonio "Nikoy" Lining (Group 8) and Lee Van Corteza (Group 13) topped their respective groups while Ramil Gallego (Group 1) and Warrem Kiamco (Group 4) finished second in their groups.

Canadian Filipino immigrant Alex Pagulayan also posted a 6-1 record for second place in Group 14.

With a 6-1 showing with 34 racks won and only 18 lost in his group, Lining gained the highest seeding in the Round-of-64 among Filipinos at eighth. He takes on Nick Van Den Berg of the Netherlands.

Reyes (seeded No. 17) plays Radoslaw Babica, Bustamante (No. 9) battles Imran Majid, Orcullo (No. 16) trades shots with 1996 champion Ralf Souquet, Luat (No. 29) tackles Steve Davis, Kiamco fights Sin-Young Park, Corteza (No. 11) tangles with Kun-Chang Huang and Gallego mixes it up with Jim Rempe.

By making it past the elims, the eight Filipinos are assured of $1,500. They take home $2,000 if they reach the Round-of-32, $4,000 Round-of-16, $8,500 quarterfinals and $17,500 semifinals. The champion gets $65,000.

Big names out after the elims were 2000 finalist Fong Pang Chao and veteran campaigner Tony Drago.

Among the fancied bets and their Round-of-64 assignment are Oliver Ortmann versus Steve Knight, Johnny Archer against Charlie Williams, Earl Strickland versus Gary Ponting, Cory Deuel against Kim Davenport, Nick Varner versus Sandor Tot and Mika Immonen against Shannon Daulton.

The other Round-of-64 qualifiers are Roman Hybler, Tony Robles, Victor Tapies, Christian Reimering, Wei-Chi Chen, Thomas Engert, Rico Diks, Stalev, Stephan Cohen, Paul Potier, Phil Harrison, Kun-Fang Lee, Niels Fejen, Fabio Petroni, David Alcaide, Hiroshi Tanenaka, Michael Schmidt, Ching-Shun Yang, Shintaro Sugaya, Thorsten Hohmann, Jeremy Jones, Ignacio Chavez, Mark Williams, Alex Lely, Vangelis Vettas, Ernesto Dominguez, Matjaz Erculj, Kunihiko Takahashi, Marcus Chamat, Niklas Bergendorff, Daryl Peach, Peter Nielsen, Takeshi Okumura, Lu-Kung Hung and Chien Te Chung.

Ortmann gained top seeding with a 6-1 showing which he capped with a 5-1 drubbing of Knight. He earlier defeated Marko Lohtander, Lu-Kung Hung, George San Souci, Ed Galati and Phil Reilly. His lone defeat came at the hands of Alex Lely.

Other results of matches involving Filipinos Tuesday were Davenport-Gallego, 5-0; Gallego-Young-Hwa Jeong, 5-2; Kiamco-Geoff Dunn, 5-3; Vangelis Vettas-Kiamco 5-4; Dominguez-Reyes 5-3; Bustamante-Alcaide, 5-0; Bustamante-Williams Boon Lay Ang, 5-2; and Lee Van Cortez-Sin-Young Park, 5-4.