FRANCISCO “Django” Bustamante and Dennis Orcullo stormed to their third straight blowout win to book a semifinal spot in the World Cup of Pool in the Netherlands.
The Philippines won the inaugural title in 2006 with Efren Reyes teaming up with Bustamante in their easy win in the finals against the US.
In the quarterfinals, the Philippines ousted Japan’s Yaoyuki Oi and Satoshi Kawabata, 9-2, to arrange the rematch with the 2006 runnerup, Rodney Morris and his new partner Shane Van Boening.
“We want to be the first US team to win this and I don’t know how many times I’m going to get invited back so I definitely want to win it this time,” Morris, who teamed up with Earl Strickland during the 2006 loss, told www.worldcupofpool.com after their tough 9-7 win over Russia in the quarterfinal round.
Meanwhile, the win over Japan was the third straight easy rout for the Filipinos.
According to the report at the event’s website, “Japan and Philippines shared the opening two racks but the Philippines edged ahead in the third. Orcollo came up with a dry break in the third but that did not matter as Oi missed the 2-ball as the Philippines moved 3-1 ahead. The Philippines was given ball-in-hand in the fourth but could not capitalize as Japan kept the match tight at 3-2. However, that was as good as it got for the Japanese as the Philippines took control from then on.”
Intention
Earlier, the Philippines defeated Denmark 8-2, and followed it up with an 8-3 win over Russia in the next round.
Meanwhile, the other semifinal match will have England against China.
China defeated Italy, 9-1, in the semis while England ousted Germany, 9-7.
The quarterfinal win against Germany had England, bannered by reigning WPA 9-Ball champion Darryl Peach and Mark Gray expecting a title this year.
“We came here with no other intentions but to win it and nothing has changed,” Peach told worldcupofpool.com. (ML)
