Alcano, Orcollo, Biado clobber foes

Former double world champion Ronnie Alcano downed Indonesian William Tanizar, 6-3, yesterday to join countrymen Dennis Orcollo and Carlo Biado in the winners’ bracket of the 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool-10-Ball Challenge at the Mall Taman Anggrek atrium in Jakarta.

Unlike Alcano, reigning World Pool Masters champion Orcollo and Biado opened the double elimination stages by cruising past Indonesians Jeffrey Andrianto (6-0) and Bambang Poedjiono (6-2), respectively.

The 38-year-old Alcano, winner of the 2006 WPA World 9-Ball Championship and the 2007 WPA World 8-Ball Championship, surged to a 3-0 lead behind routine run-outs in the second and third racks. Two scratches off the break in the fourth and fifth racks, however, allowed Tanizar to knot the count at 3-3.

Alcano kept his composure and stepped up his game, scoring three straight table runs to seal the victory.

Despite the victory, Alcano, spearhead of Bugsy Promotions stable with the 31-year-old Orcollo, remained unsatisfied with his performance.

“Although I am happy to win my first match, I cannot be content with the way I played,” said Alcano. “Two scratches off the break are inexcusable and simply won’t be good enough for the next rounds.”

Other Filipinos entered in the event are world No. 2 Lee Vann Corteza, Alex Pagulayan, Antonio Lining, Antonio Gabica, Victor Arpilleda, Jundel Mazon and Jeffrey de Luna.

Also in the fold are world No. 1 Mika Immonen of Finland, No. 3 Ralf Souquet of Germany and No. 5 Darren Appleton of England.