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.”