Orcollo bags US Open title

FORMER world No. 1 Dennis Orcollo prevailed over two of his countrymen over the weekend to win the fourth US Open 10-Ball Championship (formerly Billiards Congress of America) at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Orcollo capped a magnificent week by routing 2009 World 9-Ball king Francisco “Django” Bustamante, 11-5, in the finals yesterday morning to pocket the $15,000 (about P740,000) champion’s purse.

On the way to the final match with Bustamante, Orcollo won out in a hill-hill game against former World 9-Ball champion Alex Pagulayan, 9-8.

“I want to show through my actions that athletic excellence can be achieved with dedication, hard work and support,” said Orcollo, who was named as a co-Athlete of the Year awardee of the Philippine Sportswriters Association in March.

Oscar Dominguez of Mexico, Kostas Paspatis of Greece, Mike Dechaine and Manny Chau of United States and Rain Chiang of Chinese Taipei earlier fell in that order to Orcollo.

The victory was the second in two weeks for Orcollo, who ran roughshod over the highly touted American Shane Van Boening, 11-3, last May 6, for the crown in the third Annual Hard Times 10-Ball tournament in California.

Next stop for Orcollo is another stab at the World 9-Ball title at the Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha on June 22 to 29.

The former fisherman from Surigao del Sur, whose stints abroad are being bankrolled mainly by Bugsy Promotions head Perry Mariano, will also team up with the illustrious Efren “Bata” Reyes and former women’s World 10-Ball champ Rubilen Amit in the world teams tilt from June 30 to July 6 in China.

Aside from Bugsy Promotions, Orcollo is being supported by Malungay Life Oil, BRKHRD Corporation, Hermes Sports, Accel, B-League Corp., the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines and the Quezon City government headed by Mayor Herbert Bautista, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte and Rep. Winston Castelo. Musong R. Castillo