Orcollo, De Luna gain Guinness speed ball q’finals

SURABAYA, Indonesia—Dennis Orcollo made short work of his round-of-16 opponent Adolof Leunupun with a five rack total time of 5 minutes and 18 seconds versus the Indonesian’s 8:13 to become the first Filipino to enter the quarterfinals of the 2012 Guinness World Series of Pool: Speed Ball Challenge here at the Ciputra World Mall here.

Following suit was Jeffrey De Luna who scored a relatively easy win against Indonesian veteran Ricky Yang, 5:00 to 5:38.

Orcollo, whose performance in Day 2 action was hampered by high fever and convulsions during the preliminary stages of the tournament, seems to have completely recovered and delivered a solid run during his encounter with the Indonesian.

An impressive opening rack of 58 seconds from the Filipino ace set the tone for the match. Although he made a few mistakes in the second with a 6-ball corner pocket miss and in the fourth with a bungled 2-ball attempt, Orcollo somehow managed to keep his time to an average of just under a minute.

Unfortunately, Leunupun was just not able to keep up with the pace, ultimately succumbing to the Filipino.

Orcollo will next take on another Indonesian, Cherry Suliawan who defeated compatriot Iwan Saga, 5:58 to 7:49 mins.

Jeffrey De Luna, on the other hand, should have his hands full in his quarters clash with current world number one Darren Appleton of England, who scorched American top shooter Shane Van Boening, 4:33 versus 5:09.

“I’ve finally found a good strategy to give me great times,” said Orcollo. “When you break, you should not rush the first shot. You must wait for the balls to settle and then pick the best pattern from there. I think this is the key to the championship and I plan on employing this approach for the rest of the competition. I know it’s going to be tough but I believe I have a great chance to win.”

Earlier, Blackburn native Karl Boyes put on a fantastic show as well, trumping his Indonesian counterpart Ferdi with a total time of 4:47 against 8:06. Finland’s Mika Immonen also prevailed with a 5:27 thrashing of another local bet Muhammad Andre who clocked 6:28.

It will be a single knockout format all the way to the semifinals with each match having the players face off in five racks. The finals will be a 7-rack shootout to determine the champion.