Alcano, Orcollo overcome Thais move to round of 16

MANILA, Philippines - Dennis Orcollo and Ronnie Alcano overcame a tense performance, disposing of unheralded Thai rivals Nitiwat Kanjanasri and Surathep Phoochalam, 8-5, to join the other Philippine pair of Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante in the Round of 16 of the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool at SM North EDSA Annex Activity Center last night.

Japan, Germany, England, Italy and Finland were the five other teams who made the next round in Day Two of the rich tournament presented by Matchroom Sports and aired by Solar Sports on its cable channel and over C/S9.

Playing under tremendous pressure before a hometown crowd, Orcollo and Alcano took sometime to settle down and gain their bearing to hurdle the Thais.

“We’re so tense and we couldn’t get our normal shots. Fortunately, we’re still able to salvage the match,” said Orcollo.

“Being under pressure made things tough for us,” said Alcano.

Orcollo and Alcano, among the elite pool masters in the world, were highly fancied to win being the second seeds against the Thais who were ranked second to last.

But the highly touted Filipino pair had difficulty getting their rhythm due to early case of nerves.

They squandered a 3-0 lead as they fell behind at 4-5 before slowly getting back their form to snatch the win.

In hurdling the Thais, Orcollo and Alcano made the second round against the winner of the Russia-Denmark match at 3 p.m. today.

Germany blanked Hong Kong, 8-0, while England topped Malaysia, 8-4, to sustain the charge of the fancied bets.

Earlier, Japan fashioned out a stirring come-from-behind win over a stunned Croatia side, 8-6, becoming the fourth Asian team to make the Final 16 of the tourney offering a top prize of $60,000 out of the total cash pot of $250,000.

Satoshi Kawabata and Hiyata Hijikata pounced on crucial miscues by Ivica Putnik and Philipp Stojanovic in the crunch, overcoming a three-rack deficit, 3-6, as they advanced to the next round against the winner of the Vietnam-Holland tiff.

Kawabata, 8-Ball gold medallist in the 2006 Doha Asiad, and Hijikata, winner of the recent China Open, were the fourth pair from the host region to reach the Final 16 after the Reyes-Bustamante duo, the Chinese and the Indonesians.

Italians Fabio Petroni and Bruno Muratore whipped Austrians Martin Kempter and Jasmin Ouschan, 8-5, to set up a Round-of-16 encounter with Reyes and Bustamante set at 7 p.m. tonight.

Finland’s Mika Immonen and Markus Juva drubbed Sweden’s Marcus Chamat and Tom Storm, 8-3.

The Japanese went through anxious moments before beating the Croatians in what’s easily the most exciting and thrilling match in the tourney thus far.

The Croatians were three racks ahead, 6-3, and inching closer to the hill when Putnik fouled on the break.

The Japanese grabbed the opportunity to break a long dry spell then rode the momentum for a five-rack run to steal the match from the Croatians.

The Italians got going in the tourney as they frustrated the Austrians and local gallery cheering for the lady Austrian player.

Petroni and Muratore seized the early initiative and never wavered in pulling off a three-rack win.

Immonen and Juva, runners-up to the Chinese team in 2007, were more impressive in their win over Chamat and Storm.

“This is the fourth year Markus and I have been in this competition and I think we got away with it a bit this time,” said Immonen, a regular competitor in international events hosted by the Philippines.

“We haven’t been practicing together. It’s just not possible but we’re versy similar players and very good together,” said Juva. “Mika is such a fantastic player and I think I’m good at getting the best out of him so we compliment each other very well.”

Immonen and Juva got into the groove early and were hardly threatened after racing to a 4-0 lead.