Four Pinoys make World Pool Last 16

MANILA, Philippines - Ronnie Alcano remained on course in a bid to reclaim the World 8-Ball crown as he hurdled former World 9-Ball champion Oliver Ortmann of Germany, 9-6, to reach the Final 16 at the Fujairah Exhibition Center in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.

Alcano, the 2006 World 9-Ball champion and 2007 World 8-Ball ruler, overcame Ortmann in their tough Round-of-32 contest to advance to the next round with three other Filipino bets.

“I had a hard time beating Ortmann. With some luck, I pulled through in the end,” said Alcano who gained a crack at the quarterfinals versus Darren Appleton of the United Kingdom.

Appleton made the Last 16 with a win over Huidje See of the Netherlands.

Dennis Orcullo, Oliver Medinilla and Joven Alba were the other Filipinos who earned shots at the quarterfinals. Eased out in the Round of 32 were Antonio Lining, Roberto Gomez and Lee Van Cortez.

Orcullo edged Frenchman Vincent Facquet, 9-8; Medinilla clobbered Hungarian Vilmos Foeldes, 9-5; and Alba beat Englishman Raj Hundal, 9-7.

Lining bowed to Carlo Dalmatin of Croatia, 4-9; Gomez lost to Taiwanese Chang Jun-lin, 6-9; and Cortez suffered a 3-9 rout at the hands of Spain’s David Alcaide.

BMPAP co-founder Jonathan Sy is hopeful the Filipinos continue to get going.

Orcullo goes up against American Shane Van Boening, Medinilla squares off with Dutchman Niels Feijen and Alba tests the mettle of Qatari Basher Hussain in the next round.

Van Boening routed Jalal Yousseff of Jordan, 9-2, Feijen waylaid Rodney Morris of the United States, 9-2, and Hussain crushed Saleh Al Remawy of UAE, 9-5.

In other round-of-32 matches, Iranian Takhti Zarekani trounced Indian Alok Kumar, 9-2; German Thomas Engert outplayed American Earl Strickland, 9-7; Finnish Mika Immonen beat defending champion Karl Boyes of the United Kingdom, 9-1; and Dutch Nick Van Den Berg smashed former champion Ralf Souquet of Germany, 9-1.