Italians put out Viets in thriller

The veteran Italian duo of Bruno Muratore and Fabio Petroni rode some good breaks last night to nip Nguyen Ahn Thuan and Do The Kien of Vietnam, 8-7, and advance to the second round of the World Cup of Pool at Robinsons Place in Manila.

Muratore-Petroni was on the ropes of a hill-hill game with Thuan breaking for the 15th rack, but the Vietnamese came to grief after Kien scratched after dropping the object ball in the top corner pocket.

The Italians, the 15th seeds, advanced against Philippines-A conqueror Dimitri Jungo and half-Filipino Ronni Regli of Switzerland for a place in the quarterfinals.

Dennis Orcollo and Lee Van Corteza, the second seeds, lost a hill-hill game to the Swiss late Wednesday, leaving the Philippine-B team of Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante to carry the fight for the country.

Reyes-Bustamante was scheduled to play Canada’s John Morra and Alex Pagulayan at presstime, also for a place in the Final Eight.

Vietnam actually led 4-2 but allowed the Italians to take the hill first.

The first second-round match, featuring the top-seeded pair of Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet of Germany against Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen, was still being played at press time.