By MARK REY MONTEJO
Carlo Biado led the fight, Jefrey Roda delivered the dagger and Team Philippines stormed back from a sluggish start to stun Poland, 3-2, and reign supreme in the Predator WPA Teams 10-Ball World Championship at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino Saturday, Feb. 28 (Manila time).
The Biado-led crew, which suffered an opening game setback to Poland in the four-day meet, battled through adversity by digging deep to make its way to the race-to-3 finale against the very same team that humbled them.
There, the Philippines rallied mightily from a 0-2 deficit by taking the next three sets against the talent-laden Polish squad to close out their 4-hour, 27-minute finals showdown.
Roda, the youngest in the pack composed of multi-world champions Biado, Chezka Centeno, and Rubilen Amit, flashed precision and poise after pocketing the title-clinching ball in the nerve-wracking shootout.
That wondrous shot from the 25-year-old Roda put the Philippines on top of the 20-team field and bagged the champion’s purse of $120,000 (P6,928,860).
Other countries that took part were the USA, Singapore, and Spain, among others.
“When I was down in the fourth set, I’m just thinking about winning that set, because I thought the game wasn’t finished yet,” said Biado.
“I’m thankful that we’re able to pull it off and I’m happy that we won it,” he added.
Poland, which starred Wojciech Szewczyk, Katarzyna Wesolowska, and Daniel Maciol, settled for a runner-up’s consolation of $60,000 (P3.4 million).
In the losers’ bracket, Team PH prevailed over Puerto Rico (3-1) and the Netherlands (3-1).
Then the Nationals swept Chinese Taipei, 3-0, before drubbing Great Britain (3-1) and Team USA-A (3-1) in the quarterfinals and semis, respectively.
