REIGNING World Pool champion Carlo Biado and compatriot Bernie Regalario shared the spotlight yesterday (Wednesday in the US), breezing past separate foes to pace eight other Filipinos into the knockout round of the US Open Pool Championship at the Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Gunning for his second major 9-ball title, Biado dumped Vietnam’s Luong Duc Thien 9-5 while Regalario trounced two-time German world 9-ball king Thorsten Hohmann 9-2 to remain in the hunt for the prestigious US Open trophy and the $100,000 (around P5.7 million) that goes with it.
Also joining them from the third round of the winners’ bracket was countryman and world No. 4 Johann Chua, who nipped Roland Garcia 9-7 in an all-Filipino clash, while the remaining seven reached the round of 64, which began last night, from the losers’ bracket.
“I felt much better today than yesterday. After my first match, I told myself I needed to improve my break and my shooting, and today it worked,” Biado, the world No. 2, was quoted as saying after his third match in a story posted on the Matchroom website.
“Winning the US Open again, like I did with the World Championship this year, would mean so much for me and the Philippines. But I’m not thinking too far ahead — I’m just focusing on each match,” said the 2017 US Open titleholder, who was set to meet dangerous Estonian Dennis Grabe.
Chua, the world No. 4, was to take on Hohmann, who stayed in contention after routing fellow German Felix Vogel 9-1 from the losers’ bracket.
Jeffrey Roda, the first Pinoy player to reach the second stage of the competition, was up against Hungarian Oliver Szolnoki, fresh from his triumphant campaign at the World Games in Chengdu, China where he took the men’s singles 10-ball gold medal.
Other Pinoy matches feature Harry Vergara meeting Polish Viktor Zielinski, Regalario vs. Polish Mieszko Fortunski, Michael Baoanan vs. American Tyler Styer, Baseth Mocaibat vs. Dutchman Marco Teutsher, Lee Van Corteza vs. German Moritz Neuhausen, and Marvin Asis vs. Canadian John Morra.
