By MARK REY MONTEJO
Two-time world champion Carlo Biado fell by the wayside but the rest – Johann Chua included – persevered to keep the Philippine flag flying at the 2025 US Open Pool 9-Ball Championship at the Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City Friday, Aug. 22 (Philippine time).
Biado turned out to be the day’s biggest casualty after bowing to the surprisingly sharp Estonian Denis Grabe, 10-3, in Round of 64.
His loss did little to disappoint other members of the dreaded PH team as Chua, Michael Baoanan and Jefrey Roda found ways to overcome their separate foes in their race-to-10 matches to advance to the Last 16.
Chua demonstrated masterclass – as far as poise and precision are concerned – in rounds 64 and 32 where he eked past Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann (10-9) and Greece’s Alexander Kazakis (10-6), respectively.
The Battle of the Bull winner will next face on Serbia’s emerging pool star Aleksa Pecelj with the victor will proceed to the quarterfinal of the $500,000 competition that offers a champion’s purse of $100,000 (around P5.7 million).
“Last 16! Laban,” Chua wrote as he leads the Nationals into the Last 16 alongside Baoanan and Roda, who, for their part, displayed steely nerves to keep their contention alive.
Before his Final 16 duel with Vietnam’s Duong Quoc Hoang, Baoanan produced superb performances and downed American Tyler Styer (10-4) and Venezuelan Jesús Atencio (10-9).
Roda, on the other hand, dispatched Hungary’s Oliver Szolnoki (10-8) and New Zealand’s Sullivan Clark (10-5).
He, however, goes up against a dangerous rival in world champion Singaporean Aloysius Yapp next.
Prior to his elimination, Biado was unblemished in his first three games in the preliminaries, beating the likes of Canadian Jason Munro (9-1), German Boris Ivanovski (9-6), and Vietnamese Luong Duc Thien (9-5).
And with Biado’s exit, Chua was left as the highest-ranking Filipino bet in the star-studded field that was participated by 256 top-notch players across the globe.
Aside from Biado, Harry Vergara, Roberto Gomez, Bernie Regalario, Lee Vann Corteza, and Marvin Asis were stopped in their tracksin the same round, while Baseth Mocaibat succumbed in Final 32.
Reigning champion American Fedor Gorst, German Joshua Filler, Taiwanese Ko Pin Yi, and Scottish Jayson Shaw are still in the thick of things.
