Ramil Gallego frustrated fancied Dennis Orcollo, 9-4, on Sunday to secure a place in the knockout stage of the World 9-Ball Championship at the Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
Gallego capitalized on Orcollo’s pocketing woes on his way to leading four Filipino cue artists who reached the next phase of the annual pool competition.
Lee Van Corteza beat Saudi Arabia’s Abdulla Al Shemmari, 9-7; Johann Chua downed Finland’s Petri Makkonen, 9-4; Warren Kiamco beat Germany’s Oliver Ortmann, 9-7; and 2004 winner Alex Pagulayan, now representing Canada, trounced Vietnam’s Luong Chi Dong, 9-4.
Despite the loss, Orcollo still has a chance to reach the knockout stage, should he beat his opponent in the loser’s bracket. Otherwise, the former World 8-ball champion would sustain an early exit in the tournament.
Also relegated to the loser’s bracket were Jeffrey Ignacio (9-7 to Taiwan’s Chang Jun Lin), Qatar representatives Antonio “Gaga” Gabica (9-8 to Austria’s Albin Ouschan) and Francisco Felicilda (9-4 to China’s Li Hewen), Jeffrey de Luna (8-5 to Singapore’s Toh Lian Han), and Rogelio Sotero Jr. (9-6 to Russia’s Konstantin Stepanov).
