BIADO CLAIMS WORLD 9-BALL CROWN
FOR the last 12 years, Carlo Biado did everything he needed to do to put himself on the road to being a champion. He dedicated endless hours in practice, money games, tournaments, and worldwide travel all in the hopes of one day reaching the top of the sport. And he also endured plenty of massive disappointments and near misses in big time events, including in more than a few world championships.
Those hard knocks and long days and nights finally paid off on Thursday afternoon in Doha, and in the biggest way possible, as Biado captured his very first WPA World 9-ball title, after a relatively easy 13-5 victory over fellow Filipino Roland Garcia in the final.
One could easily see the sense of relief and triumph on Biado’s face as the last nine ball fell and he realized he had finally accomplished his long cherished goal. Only two years ago, Biado came within a whisker of winning the World 10-ball crown in the Philippines, only to lose right at the wire to Taiwan’s Ko Pin Yi.
For Garcia, his appearance in the final was a welcome revelation to pool fans who may never have heard of the hot shooting 36-year old. He grew up in the same Philippine town as the legend Efren Ryes, and learned much of the game from the Hall of Famer. Those who knew Garcia knew he al- ways possessed surreal skills, and he was a favorite on the Philippine money game scene for years. In 2006, he played in the World Pool Championship in Manila but was way in over his head and fell out in the group stages. He had never produced much on the tournament circuit until he began traveling more in the last three years and he started to get some results. He has spent the last two years living and working in Thailand as a house pro.
This was Garcia’s first ever trip to the World 9-ball Championship since the event came to Doha in 2010 and what a week it was for the Filipino. Up until the final Garcia produced one master class after the next, including beat downs of Niels Feijen, Ko and young gun Klenti Kaci. There’s no doubt the pool world will be hearing more from this exceptionally talented Filipino.
With two Filipinos going for the title, the intensity and drama that is usually associated with a World 9-ball final seemed to be missing even before the race to 13, alternate break match began. The great Filipino players always travel together, and all of them are friends. And while each dearly wanted to be crowned world champion, the match seemed to proceed at a more casual pace than otherwise would have been.
Biado quickly established his control of the proceedings and never looked back. After taking the first two racks, Biado pounced on three straight glaring mistakes from Garcia to quickly move up 5-0. Slick shooting by Biado and another mistake by Garcia brought the score to 7-0. Garcia notched his first rack to make it 7-1, but a poor safety by Garcia led to another Biado frame and an 8-1 lead.
Garcia seemed to mount a comeback and won two straight to make it 8-3. But a break and run by Biado and an inadvertent scratch on the break by Garcia put the score at 103. Biado then moved it to 11-3 before Garcia countered with two of his own. At this point, however, the result was just a formality and indeed Biado quickly closed the deal. He wrapped up the proceedings with a fine break and run to claim his very first World 9-ball title.
Afterwards, as he posed for photos and celebrated with the many overseas Filipinos who live and work in Qatar, the new World Champion couldn’t help but think back on what had brought him to this very moment.
“I’m very very happy right now,” and overjoyed Biado said. “It’s been a long time. I worked very hard, had many disappointments. And now finally I won the world title.
“In the semis I had a bit of pressure against Wu but I got lucky in one of the racks when I missed the bank shot on the four ball but it went in the other pocket. So I got lucky.
“There was less pressure in the final because even if I don’t win, at least a Filipino will get the title. I was very comfortable that’s why I played well. Also the balls were always in an easy position after the break.
“When I won the world games there was a lot of pressure, more than here because there were so many people watching. After I won in Poland against Jayson Shaw I just felt so good and so much more confident when I entered other events. That was a really big help to my confidence and I know it definitely helped me this week and today.”