INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines?A rash of reversals rocked the start of the World Ten-Ball Championship with German world No. 1 Ralf Soquet, American fifth seed Shane Van Boening and Filipino stars Jeff De Luna, Ronnie Alcano and Demosthenes Pulpul pushed to the brink of elimination Wednesday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Dennis Orcollo survived the string of upsets, overcoming compatriot Steve Villamil, 9-6, in Group A to move within a victory of reaching the round of 64.

Unheralded Filipino Jomar Ocampo also took a significant step in his qualifying bid from Group G with a stunning 9-8 victory over Wang Hung-hsiang of Chinese-Taipei.

Orcollo will play Poland?s Thomas Kaplan for a place in the next round. Kaplan came from behind to upset Soquet, 9-6.

The 22-year-old Ocampo, a qualifier from Alaminos, Pangasinan, whose only major win in the local circuit came last year when he topped the Search for Billiards Idol 2, fought back from 4-8 down to beat the second seeded Taiwanese in Group G.

De Luna, seeded seventh in the tournament after an impressive showing in the Asian circuit this year, bowed to Turkey?s Mehmet Cankurt, 7-9, before Alcano, who is shooting for a third world title, yielded to Chinese qualifier Dang Jin-hu, 7-9, in Group H.

Pulpul, a surprise semifinalist in last year?s tournament, also lost to former world champion Johnny Archer of the United States, 7-9.

The losses set up a knockout match between Pulpul and Alcano.

Soquet tries to keep his bid alive against Villamil, who also made the 128-man main draw via a qualifying tournament.

Seeded fifth, Van Boening took an 8-9 loss from Nguyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam.