Bustamante, Orcollo test Danish duo

Team Villards-Philippines’ Francisco “Django” Bustamante and Dennis Orcollo hope to duck the upset storm that already claimed a couple of high-seeded teams right in the opening day as they take on an unheralded pair from Denmark on Thursday to open their bid in the 2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool in Rotterdam, Holland.

The Filipino duo, seeded second in the field of 32, collides with the tandem of No. 31 seeds Martin Larsen and Kasper Kristoffersen in the last scheduled match of the opening round of this $250,000 tournament.

“The field is very tough, and that any team can beat the others,” assessed Bustamante. “That’s why we need to come up with our best right from the start of the match to avoid the upset, just like what happened to those two teams.”

Bustamante was referring to the fate suffered by one of the host country’s squad and last year’s runner-up Finland, which succumbed to their lower-ranked opponents.

The No. 3 seed Holland A of world No. 2 Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg lost to No. 30 Belgium of little-known Noel Bruynooghe and Serge Das, 8-3.

The No. 8 Finland pair, made up of former world champion Mika Immonen and Markus Juva dropped an 8-4 decision to the Korean duo of Jeong Young-hwa and Kim Woong-dae.

“A race-to-eight match is very short, so you need to have a strong start,” said world No. 1 Orcollo. “ Hangga’t maari nga ‘wag mo nang patirahin yung kalaban, dahil baka pag binigay mo ‘yung mesa hindi ka na makabalik (If it’s possible, you should not let your opponents get to the table because you might not have the chance to get it back).”

The campaign of Orcollo and Bustamante is supported by Senate President Manny Villar and the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP).

Other opening round matches saw defending champion and top seed China hold off No. 32 India, 8-6; No. 5 England, led by reigning world 9-ball titlist Darryl Peach, beat Malta, 8-4; No. 9 Italy blast Peru, 8-4; and No. 16 Switzerland prevail over Hong Kong, 8-5.

A team needs to win five straight matches to become the third holder of the World Cup of Pool crown.

Bustamante and Efren “Bata” Reyes topped the inaugural edition in Newport Centre, Wales two years ago over USA’s Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris, 13-5. They lost to China in last year’s quarterfinals, 6-9.

China’s Li He-wen and Fu Jian-bo nipped Finland’s Mika Immonen and Markus Juva, 11-10, for the title last year, also in Holland.