Filipinos Hungry for World Title

THE entry of eight Filipinos into the last 32 has gotten local players and fans thinking dreamily of winning the world 10-ball crown this year.

Dennis Orcullo, a top Filipino player still searching for a world title, says, “We have a strong chance of winning it. But we still need to get the luck of the draw. I hope we won’t face fellow Filipino in the brackets soon.”

The Filipinos have a mixture of experience and youth and Lee Van Corteza hopes these ingredients will be a good blend in their quest to win the championship.

“Everyone of us want to win the championship, but it would be fun to watch if a Filipino player will finally hold it,” said Corteza, who saw the likes of Efren “Bata” Reyes, Alex Pagulayan and Ronnie Alcano holding the world championship trophies one after another.

Orcullo, Corteza, Warren Kiamco, Marlon Manalo, and Antonio Lining are the veterans in the Philippine contingent. They are backed up by young guns in Jomar de Ocampo, Jundel Mazon and Elvis Calasang.

In the round-of-32, the Filipinos will face tougher assignments.

Kiamco will battle former world champion Thorstenn Hohmann of Germany; Lining will meet Naoyuki Ooi of Japan; De Ocampo will face Nguyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam; Manalo will square off with the hottest player today; former world champion Mika Immonen of Finland; Mazon will tackle Ruslan Chinakhov of Russia; Calasang takes on Alwi of Indonesia; Corteza faces Chang Yu-Lung of Chinese-Taipei; and Orcullo will meet Hayato Hijikata of Japan.