Bustamante and Orcollo glide to the semi-finals

Bustamante and Orcollo glide to the semi-finals

By LOUI GALICIA, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau 10/12/2008 3:49 PM

Francisco "Django" Bustamante and Dennis "Robocop" Orcollo continued their winning streak as they glided to victory during the quarter finals of the 2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The dynamic pair mercilessly dashed all hopes for the Japanese duo of Naoyuki Oi and Satoshi Kawabata for a slot in the semi-finals, winning 9-2 in the race to nine.

Unlike Friday's nerve-wracking match, Saturday was very smooth to the delight of spectators. Bustamante and Orcollo opened the rack but the witty and sometimes funny Japanese pair evened the score to 1-1.

The Pinoys seemed to be in their best form ever and took the lead of 3-1, until Orcollo missed in round five, giving the Japanese team their second but last point.

Saturday night saw Orcollo making a few blunders but which didn't cause any damage as the Japanese pair seemed to have lost control of their cues, missing out on every opportunity to stay in the game.

Bustamante and Orcollo are currently facing the USA team of Rodney Morris and Shane Van Boening, whose favorite pool player is Bustamante, in the semi-finals Sunday afternoon.

Orcollo said that they were in a rush to finish the match as they were already starving. "Gutom na eh, minadali na ng kasama ko," Orcollo said.

The Pinoys, even if highly forecasted to win the title, remained modest and hopeful that they can reclaim the title for the Philippines which was won by Bustamante and Efren Bata Reyes in 2006.

"Pwedeng mangyari, pwedeng hindi, nasa tirahan lang naman yan eh," Bustamante said.

A Dutch spectator who is known in the local pool community being the owner of The Hague Five snooker place thinks that the Philippine team is the best of all teams this year.

"The Philippines are more of a team, even if they didn't take the magician [Reyes], Steven (no surname) said.

He predicts that Bustamante and Orcollo will topple the Americans in the semi-finals.

"If they play tomorrow (Sunday) like they play tonight (Saturday), they're much more of a team than the way the Americans play," Steven said.

Two loyal Pinoy supporters from Hoofdorp, Vic Blanza and Joel Perez, are positive that the Philippines will be in the finals.

They should know, having endured the two-hour drive to the venue to watch Bustamante and Orcollo play since Thursday.

"Kitang kita mo naman sa laro nila ngayon gabi eh," Blanza and Perez said.

SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

http://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/12/08/bustamante-and-orcollo-glide-semi-finals