By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Carlo Biado rediscovered his fiery form and advanced to Last 16 to become the last Filipino standing in the WPA World 8-Ball Championship after advancing to the Last 16 on Monday, April 6, in St. Louis, Missouri.
As other Filipino bets fell one after the other, the 42-year-old seasoned cue artist regained his deadly touch and blanked Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura to barge into the 32-player knockout stage before routing Peru’s Gerson Martinez Boza, 10-5.
The victory against Boza set him up for a next duel with Dutch rival Marco Teutscher, who clobbered Hong Kong’s Robbie Capito, 10-5, in the Round of 32.
Biado was actually competing with three other Filipinos in the losers’ qualification – all needing only one win to make it to the knockout stages.
Sadly, Jeff De Luna, Lee Van Corteza and Seam Mark Malayan lost to their respective rivals.
De Luna was first to fall with a narrow 7-8 loss to Germany’s Stefan Kasper, before Malayan followed suit with a 6-8 defeat to Finland’s Casper Cappe Matikainen. Corteza, for his part, struggled and succumbed to Wiktor Zielinski, 4-8.
Meanwhile, Chezka Centeno and Rubilen Amit also booked spots in the Last 16 of the Seybert’s Women’s Open at the same venue after edging their respective rivals.
Centeno, a two-time world 10-ball champion, dominated Chinese Taipei’s Chiang Shui Ching, 4-0, 4-3, while Amit survived Germany’s Pia Filler in a marathon four-hour match, 3-4, 4-1, 3-3, 2-1, of this $90,000 10-ball tournament.
The triumphs set up Centeno a match against Japan’s Chihiro Kawahara, while Amit is up for a thrilling duel against Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan.
In the Poison by Predator Mixed Doubles Open also happening coincidentally with the two events, Centeno and Scottish player Jayson Shaw lost to China’s Fu Xiaofang and United States’ Justin Bergman, 4-1, 3-4, 3-4, in the semifinals.
Amit and Biado also teamed up in the event but exited earlier in the quarterfinals after bowing to American Ashley Benoit and Polish Mieszko Fortunski, 4-1, 3-4, 3-3, 2-3.
Centeno and Shaw settled for the shared $10,000 consolation prize, while Amit and Biado pocketed a combined $5,000 purse.
