Orcollo Loses Steam, Drops International Challenge of Champion Campaign to Appleton

FILIPINO pool wizard Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo failed anew in his bid to the International Challenge of Champions title after losing to eventual champion Darren Appleton of Great Britain in the one game sudden death, in their semifinal match was held recently at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, USA. 

Orcollo, top player of Bugsy Promotions won the first set 5-2 .However, Appleton surged back to take the second set 5-3 to forged a one game sudden death play off. The Briton cue artists won the lag for the one game sudden death, and after trading safeties, he ran the table to close out the match. 

After beating Orcollo, Appleton defeated Shane Van Boening of the United States, thumping score of 5-1 and 5-1 in the final match, and was crowned “Champion of Champions” for an incredible second year in a row. He received the pay cheque of $25,000 in this winner-take-all event. 

Van Boening, the 2012 Players 9-Ball Champion, defeated Jung Lin Chang of Taiwan, the 2012 World 8-Ball Champion, in the other semifinal that also went into sudden death. Chang took the first set by an impressive 5-0, but Van Boening found his stroke to claim the second set 5-3. After battling back and forth in sudden death, Van Boening ran out to emerge the winner and arrange a titular showdown with Appleton. 

via Marlon Bernardino

PhilBoxing.com

Pagulayan a win from finals; Reyes still alive

Alex Pagulayan and American Shane Van Boening will dispute the first title slot from the winner’s bracket even as Efren (Bata) Reyes and Dennis Orcollo arranged another duel for the right to stay alive in the loser’s row of the  37th US Open 9-Ball championship Saturday at the Norfolk Convention Center in Virginia.

Pagulayan, the Filipino-Canadian who won this event in 2005, beat Reyes, 11-5, while Van Boening downed Ronnie Alcano, 11-8, Friday to remain unbeaten in the $175,000 tournament offering $25,000 to the champion.

Reyes, who also won this event in 1994, went on to oust Alcano, 11-9, in the  loser’s bracket and set up a second —and knockout—encounter against Orcollo, who lost to Bata in their sixth round match, 11-7.

Under the double elimination format, the loser of the Pagulayan-Van Boening match and the winner of the Reyes-Orcollo duel will tangle for the right to nail the second title slot. The championship is a race-to-13 affair.

As things stand, a Filipino will be shooting for the title and it could even be an all-PH affair if Pagulayan beats Van Boening and the American also bows to either Reyes or Orcollo.

After losing to the 58-year-old Reyes, Orcollo remained in contention by ousting compatriot Jose “Amang” Parica,  11-4. Parica, now 63, earlier fell to Van Boening, 11-5, after beating Jayson Shaw of the US, 11-10, in the sixth round.

Before losing to Reyes, Alcano crushed Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, 11-5, and Chang Jung-lin of Chinese-Taipei, 11-7.

The PH campaign is backed  by Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP), Puyat Sports, Bugsy Promotions, Negros Billiards Stable, Hermes Sports Bar and Malungai Life Oil.

via Musong R. Castillo, Philippine Daily Inquirer