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Carlo Biado dethroned Fedor Gorst, 15-13, to capture a historic second World Pool Championship title at the Green Halls in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, July 26 (early Sunday, Philippine time).
Biado, 41, recovered just in time after squandering a 9-2 and 13-9 leads to repeat his breakthrough performance in 2017 -- the last time a Filipino won the title.
He became the first Filipino to win two titles in this prestigious 9-ball competition, pocketing the $250,000 (around P14.2 million) top purse from the $1 million total grand prize.
“I’m over the moon -- I still can’t believe I’m a two-time World champion. It means everything to me. I’m so proud to bring this trophy home to the Philippines,” Biado said in a post-game interview.
Biado held his ground as Gorst, a Russian now representing the United States, capitalized on the Filipino’s errors to level the match at 9-all and again at 13-all. But a costly scratch off a jump shot in rack 27 gave Biado the opening he needed to clear the table.
A dry break from Gorst in the next rack sealed his fate, allowing Biado to close out the match and secure the victory.
“This final is something I’ll remember forever. Fedor is one of the best in the world -- when I was leading 9-2, I still couldn’t relax because he’s a monster on the table. But today, I stayed focused, stayed calm, and maybe had a little luck on my side too,” said Biado.
Just hours after his dramatic win, Biado continued his dominant run by overwhelming 20-year-old compatriot Bernie Regalario, 11-3, in the semifinals. His road to the title included impressive victories over Chinese Taipei’s Ko Ping Chung (11-7) in the quarterfinals, fellow Filipino Jeffrey Ignacio (11-9) in the Round of 16, Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski (11-8) in the Round of 32, and England’s Chris Melling (11-9) in the Round of 64.
Biado was flawless in the group stage, defeating the Netherlands’ Jan Van Lierop (9-5) and fellow Filipino Lee Vann Corteza (9-4) to advance to the knockout rounds.
Eighteen Filipino players competed in the 128-player field, with 12 making it through to the knockout stage.
Other Filipinos who previously won the title are Efren “Bata” Reyes in 1999, Ronnie Alcano in 2006 and Francisco “Django” Bustamante in 2010.
