Red-hot Dennis Orcollo nails gold in 8-ball

GOLDEN BREAK. Dennis Orcollo wins gold in 8-ball. Photo by Romy Homillada

PALEMBANG, Indonesia—Dennis Orcollo showed Ricky Yang why he’s the world No. 1, prevailing, 7-2, Monday to clinch the men’s 8-ball pool gold medal in the 26th Southeast Asian Games at the Jakabaring billiard arena here.

The 32-year-old Orcollo, the reigning world 8-ball champion from Bislig, Surigao Del Sur, allowed Yang, Indonesia’s top player, to close in at 2-1 before sealing the gold by sweeping the next four racks to reach the hill in the alternate-break format.

“He’s also good, but I prepared well (for this event),” said Orcollo, stalwart of Bugsy Promotions. “I want to avenge my loss to him in our last meeting and I really want to contribute to the Philippine campaign.”

In an earlier interview with AKTV, Orcollo said the victory came quite easily as his breaks were falling in and his placement shots were accurate.

Orcollo earlier advanced to the semis by trouncing Malaysian Muhammad Zulfikri, 7-4, while Yang downed Vietnamese Nguyen Phuong Than, 7-4.

Another Filipino, Iris Ranola, barged into the women’s 8-ball semifinals when she beat Malaysian Suhana Dewi, 5-4, in the quarterfinals.

Ranola was left to take the cudgels for Team Philippines after former world champion and defending SEA Games champion Rubilen Amit fell to Indonesia’s Amanda Rahayu, 4-5, in the same round.

Ranola tangles with Indonesian Angelina Ticoalu in the semifinals at 4 p.m.

Hall of Famer Efren “Bata” Reyes and former world champion Francisco “Django” Bustamante, who’s also serving as Orcollo’s coach here, said the Filipinos are favored to corner most of the 10 golds at stake in the event.

Philippine billiards godfather Putch Puyat had earlier told the Inquirer that the Filipinos should be good for at least three golds in this biennial meet.