Philippines closing in on more World Cup glory
PHILIPPINES continued their assault on regaining the World Cup of Pool trophy.
The 2006 winners have been in fantastic form throughout the 2008 event and produced their third emphatic victory of the week.
Dennis Orcollo and Francisco Bustamante have now reached the semi-finals after winning 25 racks and losing only seven.
Their latest success was a 9-2 triumph over the Japanese duo of Naoyuki Oi and Satoshi Kawabata.
Japan and Philippines shared the opening two racks but 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 Philippines moved 3-1 ahead.
Philippines were given ball-in-hand in the fourth but could not capitalise as Japan kept the match tight at 3-2.
However, that was as good as it got for the Japanese as Philippines took control from then on.
Orcollo broke from the right side of the table in the seventh but it turned out to be his third dry break of the match and a nice pot on the 1 ball set things up. Kawabata though over ran the cue ball going from 8 to 9 and Oi missed the tough cut on the 9. The Philippines downed the 9 to go 5-2 ahead.
A
thunderous Bustamante break left a good looking table but Orcollo missed the 1 ball. Japan though fouled and with ball in hand, the Philippines stormed into a 6-2 lead.
They took the next from the break and then Orcollo played a delicate nudge on the 1 ball into the centre pocket to give his team a great chance to reach the hill. Looking in control, Bustamante and Orcollo ran out to reach the hill at 8-2.
A dry break from Orcollo saw Japan have a last gasp attempt to salvage the match. A safety saw Bustamante mess up on the 1 ball and offer Kawabata a chancey 1/9 combo. He missed and left a 2/9 in the bottom left corner.
Orcollo knocked in the long 1 ball and his partner completed the combination to put Team Philippines into the semi-finals where they will meet Team USA.
