By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
World 10-ball champion Carlo Biado, Johann Chua and Jefrey Roda toppled their respective quarterfinal opponents on Saturday, Oct. 12, to arrange an all-Asian semifinals in the 2024 Hanoi 9-Ball Open Pool Championship at the Hanoi Indoor Games Gymnasium in Vietnam.
Coming off a title win in the Ho Chi Minh 9-Ball Open late last month, Biado displayed once agai his aggressive plays to clobber last year’s world 9-ball champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain, 10-5, to set up an all-Filipino duel with teammate Johann Chua.
The Filipino veteran maintained his strong form, racing to a five-rack lead and securing his place in the semifinal with a 3-9 combo.
Chua, who joined forces with Biado and Amit in ruling the WPA World Team Championship in 2022, was equally dominant against Kledio Kaci as he routed the Albanian, 10-6, but not without some brief scares.
The Filipino engaged in a tight rack exchange to disrupt Kaci’s momentum before reaching the hill first at 9-6, but a failed safety on the 2-ball gave Kaci one last opportunity to mount a comeback.
However, a costly scratch after potting the 7-ball sealed Kaci’s fate, allowing Chua to close out the match and advance to the next round.
Roda, for his part, had to dig deep in edging teammate Harry Vergara,10-8.
He faces a dangerous rival in 2015 world 9-ball and 10-ball winner Ko Pin Yi of Chinese Taipei, who dethroned and squeaked past last year’s champion Jayson Shaw of Great Britain, 10-9.
The semis are being played at presstime, with the finals slated in the evening.
