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PHILIPPINES WINS WORLD CUP OF POOL IN THRILLER By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Mon, 23 Sep 2013  The Philippines pair of Dennis Orcollo and Lee Vann Corteza have won the 888.com World Cup of Pool championship with a 10-8 victory over fancied Holland in a thrilling, action-packed final that re-established the country?s credentials in the sport at the famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, East London. Orcollo and Corteza bested a field that featured 32 teams from 31 countries in a single elimination format to pocket the top prize of $60,000. Matchroom Sport reported that it was ?an action-packed final that illustrated the sheer excitement of top level pool.? In a match which swung one way first and then the other before it reached what was described as a ?climactic final stage that saw both teams buckle", before the Filipinos redeemed themselves sinking the 8 and 9 for the title against Neils Feijen and Nick Van Den Berg. It was the third win for the Philippines in the eight year history of the World Cup of Pool, one of the many superb tournaments staged by Matchroom Sport owned by businessman-sportsman and marketing genius Barry Hearn. Previously, the legendary duo of Efren ?Bata? Reyes and Francisco ?Django? Bustamante won the inaugural staging in 2006 and repeated the feat in 2009. Team Philippines defeated Croatia, Singapore, Hungary and arch-rivals Chinese Taipei en route to the final against Holland whom the famed American Johnny Archer had tipped to win but Orcollo and Corteza played some of their best pool cheered on by a large crowd of overseas Filipinos. In a post-match interview a delighted Orcollo conceded, ?The fans here were why we won. There was a lot of pressure and things became very difficult but the Filipino community in London who supported us throughout really helped us through.? Orcollo recalled ?I reached the final of the World Cup in Manila in 2010 but we came up short so it is fantastic to win here in London. I would love it for me and Lee Vann to defend the World Cup in the Philippines next year as it would be a dream come true to win it again in our home country.? Corteza added, ?You have to thank those Philippines supporters who helped us through. Representing my country is such a big honor for me and I?m very thankful and proud to have won the World Cup of Pool for the Philippines.? The Filipinos raced to an early 2-0 lead but failed to pull away and the Dutch tied it at 3-3. Just as quickly Orcollo and Corteza won the next three racks to make it 6-3 and Feijen and Van Den Berg appeared to be in trouble. In the winner breaks format though, the Dutch clawed back, cashing in on a mistake from their Filipino opponents and before long it was 7-7 and effectively a race to three. Matchroom Sport reported that the Dutch tandem of Feijen and Van Den Berg took the next rack and looked set to move to the hill but Van den Berg ?made it tougher than it needed to be, going from the 7 to 8 and Feijen missed a pressure pot that probably should have gone in. Instead of 9-7 it was 8-8 and the tension was palpable. A great break eased the nerves for the Filipinos and they ran out to reach the hill against the odds.? The report said Orcollo ?was breaking for the match but nothing went down. Feijen shot the 1 ball home and with an open layout, it looked as though it was going to a decider. Van den Berg though twitched on the pink 4 to seemingly gift the rack and the match but some poor positional play from both Filipinos made every shot a heart-stopper. The big one was the long 8 ball and somehow Corteza managed to make it and when his partner downed the final 9 it sealed a superb win.? Van den Berg was willing to take the positives from the week; ?We have never reached further than a quarter-final at the World Cup. There are some very difficult opponents in the tournament and we played really good pool all week. It is too bad we didn?t snap it up but if I can sign for second place every time we play I will do it.? Feijen added, ?We showed a lot of heart as we were down 7-3 and missed some difficult shots. At 8-7 I missed the 8 ball and unfortunately in the last game it was the 4 ball but you win together and lose together. It was pretty close but they?re great players and play great as a team.? Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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