Bustamante, Orcullo lead Pinoys' charge in World 9-Ball Pool

DOHA, QATAR – Former world’s No.1 players Francisco “Django" Bustamante and Dennis Orcullo of the Philippines continued their winning ways in the World 9-Ball Pool Championship even as double world champion Ronnie Alcano stayed unbeaten after three days here. All three Pinoy bets remained unscathed after three days. Bustamante whipped Toru Kuribayashi of Japan, 9-6, to advance to the next stage of the tournament. It was the third win in as many games for Bustamante, who leads Group 5. Orcullo outplayed Chris Milling of Great Britain, 9-4, for his third straight victory as well. He was joined by Alcano, champion of the World 9-Ball in 2006 and World 8-Bal in 2007. He claimed the scalp of his third victim, former Portugal Open champion David Alcaide of Spain, 9-5. Several other Filipinos made their presence felt in the third day – Overseas Filipino Worker Allan Cuartero, Oliver Medenilla, veteran Antonio Lining, Francisco Felicilda, Vinancio Taino and Raymond Faron. Cuartero pulled off a big upset win over one of the most feared pool players today, Neils Feijen of the Netherlands, 9-6. Medenilla outplayed Fahad S. Al Barak, 9-6, Lining dumped Khalid Al Kamale, 9-5, Felicilda stunned reigning Asian Games champion Antonio Gabica, 9-8, Taino upstaged Liu Haitao of China, 9-8, and Faron also completed a king-sized upset over Nick van den Berg of the Netherlands, 9-8.