19-26 February 2011
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Dennis Orcullo on Top of the World
Credit: Jerry Forsyth
Our
final day in Fujairah began with a playoff for third place between
Darren Appleton and David Alcaide. Alcaide dominated the match as
Appleton only came to the table sparingly. Alcaide won 9-2.
Then it was time
for the Championship match between Dennis Orcullo of the Philippines and
Niels Feijen of the Netherlands. Orcullo won the lag and broke and ran
the first rack. It then became the Orcullo break ad run show as repeated
this performance ever and over until the score stood at 5-0. Orcullo had
to play in local qualifiers to get into the tournament and he was making
the most of the opportunity. When he broke the rack in game 6 he
scratched in the side pocket and Feijen had his first opportunity.
Feijen polished off
that rack to put his first mark on the board at 5-1 down. He then
suffered a dry break but left a tough run of balls for Orcullo. Orcullo
had to bank the three ball cross corner to get his run begun and then
had a very tough lay of the land to navigate. He took his time surveying
each shot and did a simply marvelous job of getting through the rack
with one tough position after another. But he left himself long on the 8
ball and it rattled in the jaws, returning Feijen to the table.
Feijen had a big problem with the 14 ball.
Everything else had a pocket but the 14 was blocked from the corner by
the 8 ball. He would need to slide into a narrow window between the two
to play the 14 up-table, attempt a bank, or try to move the 14 with
another shot. Or he could play a safe and try to get ball in hand. He
chose the safe, locking Orcullo behind the 13 ball way up-table. Orcullo
called the 8 in the corner and measured his kick shot. He missed the 8
ball and scratched, again awarding ball in hand to Feijen. Feijen
positioned the cue between the 8 and the 12 ball which he had moved next
to the 14 on his safety, made the shot and finished off the table to
bring our score to 5-2.
Feijen made two
balls on the next snap and had an easy layout. He very quickly made it
5-3. He was running throughout he next rack with ease when he got what
appeared to be a skid on the 4 ball and it stayed up between the corner
jaws. Orcullo was back at the table. He cleared up and the score became
6-3 in our race to ten games. Orcullo made a great spread of the balls
on the next break and finished that rack easily to lead 7-3.
The outlook began
to truly dim for Feijen when Orcullo made three balls on the next break
and faced an open table of well-spread balls. It was soon 8-3 Orcullo.
But Orcullo scratched in the side pocket on the break to bring some
light to Feijen's chances. But he missed a long shot to the corner early
on and Orcullo finished off the balls to claim his spot on the hill.
Orcullo now stood
one rack away from his first World title. He made two balls on the break
but the table was not an easy one to finish off. But he made it look
easy and sank the final 8 ball to a celebration of fans in the arena.
FInal score 10-3.
Thanks again must
out to the organizers and sponsors such as Etisalat, Dubai SPorts, the
Chantoot Group, Fujairah INternational Airport anal the others who made
this event such a great success.