Biado crowned champ in 2nd Chinese Taipei Open 9-Ball tilt

MANILA, Philippines -- Flexing his world champion muscles, Carlo Biado ruled the 2nd Chinese Taipei Open 9-Ball Pool Championship before an animated crowd at the cavernous Hulk Billiards Hall in Taipei City Friday night.

The former World Games gold medalist and world 9-Ball king wasted no time in disposing of Bernie Regalario, 13-7, in the All-Filipino finale and adding another hardware to his colossal collection while pocketing $10,000 (P550,000).

It also asserted the country’s supremacy over the sport where it has produced a bevy of world champions, including the legend of all legends and the one they all call “The Magician” — Efren “Bata” Reyes.

But it took the 40-year-old Southeast Asian Games titan an early defeat at the hands of local bet Ching Feng Wang, 9-4, to crawl out from the purgatory bracket and climb straight to the top of this 96-strong field.

That stinging, near-catastrophic setback somehow woke the dragon in Biado, who then unleashed a decisive juggernaut that saw him destroy everyone that stood on his path — Taiwan’s Shun Yang Kao, 8-1, Singapore’s Toh Lian Han, 8-1, and countryman Jefrey Roda, 8-2 — in advancing to the playoff round.

There, he carried the momentum of his rampage as he smashed Vietnam’s Bui Truong An and Taiwan’s Yun Cheng Liu with a pair of 10-0 wins; edged No. 1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain, 10-5; the Philippines’ Michael Feliciano, 10-8; and Taiwan’s Chang Yu Lung; 11-9, to advance to the finals.

Regalario, who hurdled Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp, 11-10, in the semis, tried to put up a brave front but just drowned amid the Biado landslide and settled for a $5,000 (P270,000) purse.