Swiss pool aces boot out Orcollo, Corteza

Switzerland provided the first upset in the World Cup of Pool last night after Dimitri Jungo and Ronni Regli, who has Filipino roots, bundled out the second-seeded Philippine A team of Dennis Orcollo and Lee Van Corteza, 8-7, at Robinson’s Place Manila.

The Swiss came back from 2-6 down and forged a hill-hill game, pouncing on a crucial error by Corteza in the 10th frame to knock out one of the favored teams in the $250,000 event.

That has left the Philippine B Team of Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante as the lone side to carry the fight for the Filipinos, with the time-tested duo seeing action against Canada today at around 8 p.m.

Orcollo-Cortez looked to be in cruise control after eight racks, only for the Filipinos to flub some crucial shots, including an easy attempt by Corteza on the 5 in a wide open table that cut the Philippine lead to 4-6.

Reyes-Bustamante hurdled its first round match against Hong Kong, 8-3, after racing to a 5-1 lead.

But against Canada, it could be a lot tougher, especially with Alex Pagulayan on the other end of the table.

Pagulayan, who has represented the Philippines several times before but is partnering John Morra here, scored an 8-7 victory over Sweden also on Tuesday.

“We played well but we need to improve on our breaks,” the 58-year-old Reyes told scribes in Filipino late Tuesday. “We will have a better chance of defeating Canada if we can break better.”