Filipino star Dennis Orcollo yielded to former world 10-ball champion American Shane Van Boening, 13-8, in the semifinals and settled for joint third place with Francisco “Django” Bustamante in The Million Dollar 9-Ball Shootout on Sunday at the Valle Forge Convention Center in Pennsylvania, USA.
The defeat denied Orcollo, currently the world’s top player, his fourth crown this year as he settled for the losing semifinalists purse of $10,000 (about P440,000) with Bustamante, who bowed to American Corey Deuel, 13-6, in the other match. Van Boening routed Deuel, 13-7, in the finals to rule the 12-man, five-day event and pocket the top prize of $20,000. Deuel took the $12,000 runner-up purse.
“The ball didn’t go my way,” said Orcollo,who had won the Quezon City 9-Ball Championship, the Japan Open and the Qatar International 9-Ball tilt earlier this year. “But I’m still happy because I played well overall in this event, which I hope I can carry into my next tournament,” added Orcollo, stalwart of the star-studded Bugsy Promotions of businessman Perry Mariano.
Orcollo’s next stop in his two-week US sojourn would be the International Challenge of Champions, a $50,000 winner-take-all event featuring eight of the world’s best players slated Aug. 14 and 15 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
The 29-year-old Orcollo came into the knockout stage as the top seed, having won five of his six first round matches and accumulated the most number of racks won (93 out of 150) from among the 12 entries. But that didn’t give the pride of Bislig, Surigao del Sur, any advantage as the tournament shifted to a do-or-die format.
In the Challenge of Champions, Orcollo will pit skills with world No. 2 and defending champion Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, reigning world 9-ball king Darryl Peach of England, Van Boening, Fu Jianbo of China, Chang Jung-lin of Chinese-Taipei, Satoshi Kawabata of Japan and Seung Woo Ryu of Korea.
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