By MARK REY MONTEJO
Carlo Biado flexed his might and dispatched Kuwait’s Bader Al Awadi, 10-4, to barge into the quarterfinals of the 2024 Maldives Open 10-Ball Championship in Malé City Saturday, June 29 (Manila time).
The reigning World 10-ball champion pulled away from a slim 6-4 lead by grabbing the next four racks to set up a mouth-watering clash with Austria’s Mario He in the tournament that boasts $130,000 (roughly P7.6 million) prize pool.
Against He, Biado needs to raise his a game a notch higher with his Autrian rival coming off an inspiring 10-9 win over Taiwanese star Ko Ping Chung.
Prior to booking a quarters berth, the pride of Rosario, La Union outplayed teammate and reigning World Cup of Pool champion Johann Chua, 10-8, in the Round of 32 match that lasted for almost two and a half hours.
Biado’s win over Chua made him the last Filipino standing in the tournament after Bernie Regalario, Jeffrey Ignacio, Jonas Magpantay, Michael Baoanan, Sean Mark Malayan and James Aranas fell by the wayside one after another.
The 2021 Southeast Asian Games champion gotoff to a strong start against Al Awadi after taking a 5-1 lead before the Kuwaiti cue artist fought back and cut the Filipino’s lead to just two, 6-4.
But Biado refused to be intimidated as he banked on his experience and continued his assault to dismantle Al Awadi.
Other quarterfinalists are Chinese Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi against Poland’s Konrad Juszczyszyn, Estonia’s Denis Grabe versus Poland’s Daniel Maciol, and Greece’s Alex Kazakis taking on teammate Dimitris Loukatos.
