Garcia, Biado cruise into World 9-Ball semifinals

UNHERALDED Roland Garcia and World Games champion Carlo Biado made it to the semifinals of the prestigious 2017 World 9-Ball Championship being held at the Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.

Garcia continued his impressive showing in the world meet, scoring an easy 11-4 win over Jalal Al Sarisi of Venezuela in the quarterfinals of the tournament sanctioned by the World Pool- Billiard Association (WPA).

On the other hand, Biado got an easy passage to the Final Four after winning via walk over against Liu Haitao of China.

The organizers disqualified Liu who arrived 10 minutes late of the scheduled match with Biado.

After his 11-10 win over Taiwanese Ko Ping Chang in the Last 16, Liu opted to take a quick rest at the nearby hotel.

But the Chinese player forgot to set an alarm and woke up late, letting the Filipino cue master barged into the next round without breaking a sweat.

Garcia and Biado shoot for an allFilipino finale when they face separate foes in the semis.

Garcia takes on World Pool Series Grand Finale champion Klenti Kaci of Albania, who stopped giant-killer Maung Maung of Myanmar via an 117 decision while Biado battles Lin Wu Kun of Taiwan, an 11-8 winner over compatriot Hsieh Chia Chen.

The semifinals and the championship round were slated on Thursday evening.

A total of $200,000 cash prize is at stake with the champion getting $30,000 and the runner-up taking home $15,000.

Biado has yet to win a major title this year in a WPA event. He’s close to winning one when he settled for runner-up honors in the World Pool Series - Aramith Masters in April.

For his part, it is Garcia’s first semifinals appearance in a major event.

His highest placing recorded in the Az Billiards website was ninth in the International 9-Ball Open held in Pengzhou, China in June.