You can follow the ongoing BSCP National Pool Championship 10-ball results here.
The contest is in a double-elimination format that changes into a semifinal format once it reaches the final four. The matches continue tomorrow and Tuesday.
Photos by KC Cruz
Day Four and Five now available.
Dennis Orcullo photo by KC Cruz
Hungry to win his first title as a top-flight pool player, Carlo Biado emerged yesterday as the leading contender for the grand title of 2011 Philippine National Champion, by winning a berth in the 9-ball finals.
The Philippines’ two hottest players in the international circuit arranged their title showdown by posting contrasting victories over their rivals in the semifinals.
Biado, a former caddie, took down former national junior champion Jerico Banares, 9-4, for his second finals stint in two of the three disciplines being disputed in the 2011 BSCP National Pool Championship.
Biado earned earlier a championship berth in the 8-Ball event, where he will face OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) Alan Cuartero this Sunday morning, Oct 9. The 8-ball finals of will be broadcast from 12 noon to 4 p.m. on AKTV 13.
A highly-anticipated match-up looms in the 9-Ball event, where Biado must face the battle-tested Orcullo
Orcullo survived former world pool runner-up Roberto Gomez in a tense hill-hill match, 9-8.
In the 17th rack, the man known as “Robocop” pocketed the 2-ball on the break. Then after sinking the 1-ball, he played position for a combination on the 3-ball and 9-ball. This he executed to perfection for a quick kill and the match.
But Orcullo had to earn the victory the hard way. He found himself trailing, 7-6, and an upset appeared imminent until he got the breaks of the game when Gomez scratched the cue ball while going for the 5-ball.
“I was given a chance, so I didn’t waste the opportunity to come back and win,” said Orcullo, referring to the error committed by his opponent.
Both players traded runouts in the next two racks, but Orcullo was breaking last. And he fully capitalized on with a solid break in the 17th and final rack.
In the 9-ball finals, Orcullo will have a score to settle with Biado, who has beaten him twice this year, first in the World 10-ball Championship last May, and lately in the 8-ball semifinals of this 2011 Philippine pool championship.
“He’s slowly developing his game and he has shown tremendous improvement the past few months. His pocketing is so precise,” said Orcullo of Biado.
In the battle for third place in the 9-ball evebt, Jerico Banares defeated RobertoGomez, 9-4.
Banares, along with Cuartero and Biado, is a major revelation in this year’s national championship.
World 8-ball champion Dennis Orcullo snapped yesterday the winning streak of the hottest player in the National Pool Championship — to regain top-rank status in the highly contested tournament of the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines.
The world No.1 player defeated the erstwhile unbeaten Allan Cuartero, 9-5, in the quarterfinals of the 9-Ball event on Friday night at the Star Billiards Center.
The win gave the man known as “The Robocop” one of the two outright seats in the Final Four of the event, that serves as a qualifying event for the AKTV World Pool Summit in November.
“Slowly but surely, I’m beginning to get my game going,” said Orcullo.
Orcullo started to break the game wide open beginning the 10th rack when he won three consecutive racks en route to posting an 8-4 lead.
Although Cuartero managed to salvage a game in the 13th, there was no denying the hottest player in the international circuit as he went back to the table in the 14th and disposed off the remaining balls one by one to complete the win – and hand Cuartero his first loss in nine matches stretching back to the 8-Ball event that started Monday.
Cuartero, who is already assured of a finals berth in the 8-Ball event, fell into the loser’s bracket and will await the winner of the Dodong Andam-Carlo Biado match.
While Orcullo was beginning to make his presence felt in the 9-Ball event, Jerico Banares was sizzling on all fronts, winning his first five games capped by a near perfect performance against Roberto Gomez.
Banares, the former Philippine junior champion, nearly swept Gomez, the former world pool runner-up, 9-1.
The youthful cue artists from Antipolo City also had a near flawless performance on Thursday night when he subdued Jeff de Luna, 9-1. In beating Gomez, Banares joined Orcullo as the only players to advance to the Final Four so far.
Renemar David, another rising pool star, and Edgi Geronimo pulled off contrasting victories in the loser’s bracket to keep their flickering hopes alive for the other two semis berths.
David whipped veteran Rene Cruz, 9-6, while Geronimo edged Arvi Tanega in a hill-hill encounter, 9-8.
With the excitement of his Day 3 victory over World No.1 Dennis Orcullo still soaring in the atmosphere, rising star Carlo Biado came back to earth yesterday by losing his very first match in the 9-ball leg of the BSCP National Pool Championship at the Star Billiards Center in Quezon City.
Jeffrey de Luna stunned Biado 9-3 in their much-heralded matchup to the surprise of many onlookers and pool experts, who tagged his opponent as the early frontrunner in the race to the Grand championship and title of “2011 Philippine National Champion.”
While Biado’s course was disrupted, his opponent in the 8-ballfinals, Allan Cuartero continued to make waves and believers of Filipino pool Afficionados.
The former Overseas Filipino Worker won all his three matches yesterday. He beat Judy Villanueva 9-6; Jeff Diaz 9-7; and Richard Alinsub 9-8 (in this match coming from behind 5-8).
Orcullo recovered lost ground by taking his two matches in 9-ball. He beat Alexander Arenal 9-7, snd Marvin Tspia, 9-4.
Also winning three matches on Day 3 were Jericho Banares, Roberto Gomez and Rene Cruz.
Banares beat youthful standout johann Chua, 9-5; Cocong Acaba, 9-3, and repeated his earlier victory over Biado’s nemesis Jeffrey de Luna, 9-7.
Gomez beat Ramon Mistica, 9-4; Mario Tolentino (9-8); and recent Jogjakarta 9-ball champion Victor Arpilleda, 9-7.
Action continues today in Day 5 of the BSCP nationals with the following
Headline matches in the winners bracket:
Raya Sports InfoCenter 