Orcollo leads PH’s World 10-Ball bid

Dennis Orcollo and defending champion Jundel Mazon will lead an eight-man Filipino squad taking part in the Asian Pocket Billiards Union (APBU) Guinness World Series of Pool 10-Ball tournament starting today at the Mal Taman Anggrek in Jakarta.

Orcollo, the world No. 1, and Mazon have been seeded to the main draw while Roberto Gomez, Carlo Biado, Warren Kiamco, Jeffrey de Luna, Jech-Jech Limen and John Salazar have to go through a qualification tournament at the Kenari Billard Hall to join them.

Apart from 34 Indonesian players, Mazon will face a roster of top class Filipinos led by Roberto “Pinoy Superman” Gomez and Carlo “Cool” Biado.

Also vying for the top prize of $41,000 are American Johnny Archer, Mika Immonen of Finland, Thorsten Hohmann of Germany and Ricky Yang and Irsal Nasution of Indonesia.

“I hope that a Filipino will win again,” said Orcollo, the reigning world 8-ball champion who was a semifinalist in the recent world 9-ball championship.

Mazon beat Nasution, 10-5, in the final last year after a searing comeback from 1-5.

Orcollo goes into the tournament as the sport’s top money earner halfway through the World Pool-Billiards Association season, racking up $81,740 in earnings.