By ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – The Philippine billiards team led by Bacolodnon Johann Chua emerged as champions in the 2022 Predator World Teams 10-ball Championship on Sunday evening in Klagenfurt, Austria.
Chua, along with Rubilen Amit and Carlo Biado, reasserted their mastery of Great Britain with a dominant 3-0 victory in the championship round.
Prior to the finale showdown, Chua, Biado and Amit outscored the Great Britain team of Jayson Shaw, Kelly Fisher, and Darren Appleton, 3-2, in the winner’s qualification round.
Amit, a gold medal winner in the 2021 Hanoi SEA Games, opened the scoring for Team Philippines in the finale as she defeated Fisher in the women’s singles set, 4-3.
Biado, a champion in the 2021 US Open Billiards, notched the second win for the Filipino snookers. He outduelled Shaw, 4-3, in the men’s single set.
Shaw actually had the chance to take the second set and score the equalizer with only the nine and 10 balls left in the table but he went for the safety as he does not have a clear shot at the 9.
Biado, who also won a gold in the recent SEA Games, solved the 9-ball puzzle by going for the bank shot to drop it on the lower right pocket and gave Team Phl a 2-0 lead.
Chua and Amit then teamed up in the mixed doubles and scored a dominant 4-1 victory over Great Britain’s Fisher and Appleton to put on the finishing touches to the Philippine’s unbeaten run in the tournament.
For their dominant win against Shaw, Fished and Appleton, the Pinoy trio of Chua, Amit and Biado bagged the gold medal and the lion’s share of the $138,000 (P7.8 million) prize pool.
On their way to the championship round, the trio of Chua, Amit and Biado encountered a tough challenge from Germany in the semifinals before pulling off a 3-2 shootout win./PN
