Alcano, Corteza advance in world 8-ball

MANILA, Philippines - Ronato Alcano and Lee Van Corteza, two of the country’s best hopes in the Etisalat WPA World 8-Ball Pool Championship 2010, secured berths in the round-of-32 late Tuesday in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.

 Alcano rallied from 1-5 down to beat Mohammed Hosani of UAE, 8-6, in Group 1 while Corteza defeated countryman Dennis Orcollo, 8-5, in Group D.

With their back-to-back victories, Alcano and Corteza advanced to the Last 32 in the week-long event.

Raymund Faraon, Joven Alba and Antonio Gabica also won their second matches to progress.

Faraon toppled Vincent Facquet of France, 8-6, in Group 1, Alba turned back Scott Higgins of Great Britain, 8-6, in Group 3 and Gabica, the 2006 Asian Games 9-ball gold medalist, topped Huidje See of the Netherlands, 8-5, in Group 8.

Little-known Ruben Bautista bowed to reigning World 8-Ball Champion Ralf “Kaiser” Souquet of Germany, 8-1, in Group 8 and was relegated to the losers bracket with Orcollo, Marlon Manalo, Oliver Medanilla, Kim Aquino, Venancio Tanio and power-breaker Jeffrey de Luna.

Also to advance in the next level are Ricky Yang of Indonesia, Stephan Cohen of France, Shane Van Boening of the United States, Yukio Akakariyama of Japan, Ruslan Chinakhov of Russia, 2009 World Ten Ball titlist Darren Appleton of Great Britain,

Andreas Roschkowsky of Poland, Jalal Al Sarisi of UAE, Karl Boyes of Great Britain and Niels Feijen of the Netherlands. The top four finishers after the group stage matches will advance in the Last 32, knockout stage format.