Carlo Biado isn’t taking full credit for his golden performance in the billiards competition of the 29th Southeast Asian Games.
He also owes his mentors – legendary cue artists Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante – for teaching him the tricks of the trade.
After winning the championship of the 2017 World Games in Poland, “Lucky Luke” continued his winning ways when he demolished Nguyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam in the men’s singles 9-balls event to collect his second gold medal in the biennial meet.
Prior to that, the 33-year-old had romped Muayporn Chotipong of Thailand in the preliminaries before running over Irsal Nasution of Indonesia in the quarterfinals.
And he has his coaches to thank.
“Maganda na sina (national playing-coaches) Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes at Francisco ‘Django’ Bustamante ang mga naging coaches namin sa national team. Marami kami, ako na mga natutunan sa kanilang dalawa sa training,” said Biado.
“Marami silang alam na mga tira na tinuturo sa amin na malaking bagay at nagagamit namin sa mga labanan.”
But the battle is not yet done for Biado.
After this, he will fly to Ashgabat in Turkmenistan to compete in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
His coaches may no longer be there beside him, but the lessons they taught him will still be ingrained in him.
Story from PSC-POC Media Group
