By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
BOOSTED by his strong finish to the year that saw him win the World 9-Ball Championship, Filipino champion billiards player Carlo Biado soared in the player rankings as the Year 2017 drew to a close.
As per the yearend rankings of the World Pool-Billiard Association, the world governing body of pool, the 34-year-old Biado placed second in the rankings at year’s end, jumping five places from seventh spot in the previous ranking.
The La Union native Biado finished 2017 with 25,250 total points, behind Chinese Taipei’s Jung Lin Chang at number one with 30,837 but ahead of third-running Pin-Yi Ko also of Chinese Taipei with 23,237 points.
The Filipino champion concluded a banner year by defeating compatriot Roland Garcia, 13-5, in the All-Filipino final of the World 9-Ball Championship played in Doha, Qatar, last month.
By bagging the prestigious title, Mr. Biado became the fifth Filipino player to win the tournament, joining Efren “Bata” Reyes, Alex Pagulayan, Ronnie Alcano and Francisco “Django” Bustamante, who last won it for the Philippines in 2010.
Mr. Biado raced to a 7-0 lead in the final over Mr. Garcia, which turned out to be enough distance to bring the crown home as the latter just could not make up for the lost ground.
“I’m very happy right now. It has been a long time and I really worked very hard, had my ups and downs. And now finally I won the world title,” said Mr. Biado following his world championship conquest.
The win was in addition to solid 2017 performances in other tournaments in the circuit as well as the gold medal he won for the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Despite losing in the World 9-Ball Championship finals, Mr. Garcia still wound up at sixth place in the yearend rankings with 20,252 points.
Completing the top 10 were Jayson Shaw of Great Britain at fourth with 22,946 followed by Albin Ouschan of Austria at fifth with 20,390 points.
Ping Chung Ko (18,185) and Yu Hsuan Cheng (17,742) of Chinese Taipei, Eklent Kaci (17,737) of Albania and Thorsten Hohmann (17,687) of Germany finished seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively.
Narrowly missing the top 10 was Jeff De Luna of the Philippines at 11th place with 17,612 points.
Meanwhile on the women’s side, veteran Rubilen Amit was the highest Filipino player at seventh with 12,536 points with compatriot Chezka Centeno at 10th with 11,680.
Chinese Siming Chen tops the side with 23,620 points.
