Reigning world champions Dennis Orcollo and Lee Vann Corteza will be gunning for a back-to-back title when they defend their crown in the prestigious 2014 World Cup of Pool on September 23 to 28 at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Orcollo and Corteza are also aiming to claim the country’s fourth title in the tournament. They want to follow the footsteps of two-time titlists Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante, who ruled the 2006 edition in Newport, Wales and the 2009 tournament held in Manila.
Orcollo and Corteza nipped veteran cue masters Neils Feijen and Nick van den Berg of the Netherlands in the finals, 10-8, of the 2013 event. This year, there are 32 teams eyeing to dethrone Orcollo and Corteza in the tournament which offers a total prize fund of $250,000.
There are 17 tandems from Europe including Austrians Albin Ouschan and Mario He, England A’s Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes, England B’s Daryl Peach and Chris Melling, Finland’s Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen, Germans Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann, and Feijen and van den Berg. Joining the Asian team are Chinese Wang Can and Dang Jinhu, Taiwan’s Chang Yu-lung and Hsu Kai Lun, Indians Raj Hundal and Amar Kang, and South Koreans Jeong Yung Hwa and Ha Minuk.
The other notable pairs in the six-day meet are Alex Pagulayan and John Morra of Canada, and Shane Van Boening and Earl Strickland of US. (E. Noguera, MT)
