NEWLY-CROWNED US Open champion Carlo Biado will prioritize playing for flag and country in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games when he resumes his campaign early next year after a well-deserved extended vacation in the Philippines.
“May kasabay ang Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games sa Thailand next year pero mas uunahin ko po ito,” Biado said yesterday from New York in his maiden appearance in the Philippine Sportswriters Association virtual forum.
Aside from the AIMAG, set in Thailand on March 10-20, 2022, also tentatively set next May is the SEA Games in Vietnam, and the World Games, where Biado is the defending 9-ball champion.
Billiards secretary general Robert Mananquil, who joined the cue ace in the public sports program, said Biado has been seeded by the Philippine Olympic Committee for the AIMAG in the wake of his US Open triumph that ended the country’s 27-year barren run in the prestigious event.
“I was informed by POC President Bambol Tolentino that billiards will have two athletes each in the men’s and women’s 9-ball events in the AIMAG, so by virtue of his US Open win, Carlo will have one of those slots,” Mananquil said.
The AIMAG is close to the World 10-ball Championship set March 28 to April 1, 2021 in the US but Biado, a former caddie at the Villamor Golf Club, said he preferred to compete in the AIMAG where he won a bronze medal in the 2017 edition in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Mananquil also said in the public sports program backed by the Philippine and Amusement and Gaming Corp., San Miguel, Smart, Milo, Amelie Hotel and Braska Restaurant that former two-time World 10-ball champion Rubilen Amit and AIMAG silver medalist Chezka Centeno are also expected to compete in Thailand.
A two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, Biado added he would also make it a point to represent the country in the Vietnam SEA Games in the event it also pushes through in 2022.
Competing in the US since last May because local tournaments dried up due to the pandemic, Biado said he intends to return to Manila by the end of the month and stay until Christmas before returning to the US in February 2022.
“Matagal din po akong nawala sa Pilipinas kaya bakasyon lang po muna,” said the cue ace, who cherished his latest trophy despite winning the World 9-ball and World Games titles in Doha, Qatar and Wroclaw, Poland, respectively, in 2017.
“Matagal ko na pong panaginip na manalo itong US Open kaya masayang-masaya ako na makuha ko ito,” said Biado, who cited his wife, Niki, who was at ringside at the Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the US Open finals, as his lucky charm for his latest accolade.
“Siya (Niki) talaga ang lucky charm ko dito. Sa semifinals pa lang, sinabi niya sa akin ako ang mananalo kaya laki ng naging kumpiyansa ko,” he said of the first time he was accompanied by his wife to a major international competition.
