MANILA – Filipino cue master Carlo Biado made history as the first Filipino to win the World Pool Championship twice after edging defending champion Fedor Gorst, 15-13, on Saturday night (Sunday in the Philippines) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Biado, 41, displayed nerves of steel despite blowing sizable leads of 9-2 and 13-9 take home the top prize of $250,000 (approximately P14.29 million) in the week-long competition.
The win marked Biado’s second world 9-ball title, following his breakthrough triumph in 2017 in Doha, Qatar. It was also the first time since that a Filipino captured the prestigious crown.
En route to the title match, Biado cruised past fellow Filipino Bernie Regalario, 11-3, in their all-Filipino semifinal clash, while Gorst, a Russian-born cue artist now representing the United States, edged Eklent Kaçi, 11-7.
Despite dropping the opening two racks, Biado surged with nine consecutive wins to take a commanding 9-2 lead. Gorst responded with a run of his own, winning seven straight racks to level the match at 9-all.
Biado once again pulled away, 13-9, only for Gorst to rally back and tie it at 13-13, but the latter’s dry break in rack 27 opened the door for Biado to regain control and finish the match.
With the victory, Biado joins an elite list of multi-time World Pool champions, including Earl Strickland, Johnny Archer, Chao Fong-Pang, Thorsten Hohmann, and Gorst.
Biado also becomes the fourth Filipino to win the title, after Efren “Bata” Reyes (1999), Ronnie Alcano (2006), and Francisco “Django” Bustamante (2010)./PN
