Winning it the third time is definitely a charm for Carlo Biado, who became the first Filipino to capture a world title three times.
On Saturday night (early Sunday morning in Manila) at the Green Halls in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Biado flubbed and floundered before recovering his lost bearings in pulling the rug from under last year’s champion, Fedor Gorst of the United States, 15-13.
It was the second World Pool Championship won by Biado, who first achieved the feat in 2017, but just last year, he added another feather to his cap by winning the World Ten Ball Championship.
This latest victory has put himself as the only male player from the Philippines to win a world crown three times — and winning his richest purse ever amounting to $250,000. Rubilen Amit, the country’s Filipina ace, had won the World Ten Ball Championship twice and pocketed the World 9-Ball title last year.
But Biado is definitely the man of the hour and a hero’s welcome back home certainly awaits him.
What turned out to be a one-sided affair early ended in a gripping fashion.
Biado lost the first two racks, but went on to win nine in a row, yet somehow, the American showed the true heart of a champion when he came back and won seven straight racks to turn it to a down-the-wire battle.
At the crucial stretch, it appeared the 41-year-old player, who first won his world championship when Gorst was still competing as a junior player, was able to gain his second wind.
A missed jump shot from Gorst, allowed Biado to get back on the table in the 19th rack to clean up the table and grab the upper hand once more, 10-9. The Filipino cue artist followed it up by winning the next three racks. In the 20th rack, he forced Gorst to take another jump shot and missed the No.2 ball and that allowed Biado to clean up the table.
Biado missed a crucial shot at the No.3 at the side, but made up for the blunder in the exchanges of safety shots. Grost opted to take a long, kicked shot at the No.3, but that opened things up for his rival, who slowly but surely regaining momentum. In the 22nd rack, the Pinoy bet came up with two spectacular plays — a banked shot at the No.2 and a similar shot at the No.8 to create some separation, 13-9.
But just when Biado was about to go for the kill, he scratched the cue ball off the break in Rack 23 and that allowed the American to come back. Grost followed it up, winning the next rack via a shorter route, a combination of Nos. 2 and 9 as fans were bracing for a long night, anticipating who will hoist the championship trophy.
Rack 25 saw Biado taking a bad shot while aiming for the No.2 and instead it hit No.5 and Grost seized momentum. The next rack saw the American leveling the count for the last time at 13-all when he came up with a nifty banked shot at the No.2 and finished the job done.
Then came the dry break from Grost in the 27th, and Biado took advantage.
Biado didn’;t want the match to go to a hill-hill encounter and when the juices were flowing, he brought his A-game when needed the most. Off the break in the 28th rack, he sank the Nos. 1 and 6 then made the No.2 and although he had an uncomfortable position with the No.3, he pulled of what turned out to be the championship point — a gorgeous combination of the Nos. 3 and 4 as the Pinoy crowd who packed the stadium started to celebrate in a frenzy, sensing another special moment they’re about to experience.
There was no stopping Biado from there as he let out a loud scream, emotions running high following a gripping encounter that defined him as one of the game’s all-time greatest players — and probably assuming the role as the rightful heir apparent of the one and only ‘Magician’ Efren “Bata” Reys, considered as the GOAT of the world billiard circuit.
Photo courtesy of Matchroom Pool
