Billiards ace Carlo Biado could not secure back-to-back victories after falling to German Joshua Filler in the finale of the 2018 WPA World 9-Ball Championship, Thursday evening in Doha, Qatar.
Biado, who defeated compatriot Roland Garcia a year ago, fell to the young German, 13-10. The 35-year-old Filipino still brought home USD 20,000.
The Filipino easily breezed through the first stage of the tournament, knocking out Argentinian Jorge Llanos (9-3) and Russian Sergei Luzker (9-5) in the group stages.
In the round of 64, Biado outlasted Ukranian Witalij Pazura, 11-9, before conquering Polish cue artist Konrad Juszczyszyn, 11-7.
Biado was able to pick up steam in the later stages. The defending champion knocked off Chinese foe Wu Jiaqing (11-9), Chinese-Taipei’s Wu Kun-lin (11-4), and American Shane Van Boening (11-6) to reach his second consecutive finals.
In the race-to-13 finale, Filler’s youth proved to be the difference, racing to an 11-7 lead. Though Biado was able to cut the deficit to one, a scratch in the 22nd rack with five balls left proved the end of his journey to becoming the first back-to-back champion since Earl Strickland did it in 1990 and 1991.
Other Filipinos who competed in the event are Israel Rota (eliminated during group stages); Roberto Brillantes (group stages); Marlon Manalo (group stages); Jeff De Luna (round of 64); Jeffrey Ignacio (round of 64); Johann Chua (round of 32); and Garcia (round of 32).
