CARLO Biado once again keyed Team Asia's continued domination in the inaugural Reyes Cup on Thursday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium, as the hosts moved two wins away from claiming the throne.
"The Black Tiger" remained in his element, as he powered the 5-3 win with Aloysius Yapp over the tandem of Team Europe's Jayson Shaw and Eklent Kaci to put an early end to day three with the hosts firmly ahead in the race-to-11 series, 9-3.
It was a superb performance by the Biado-Yapp duo which rallied from a 3-2 deficit and won the next three frames.
The 2021 US Open champion's runout in rack 6 knotted it at three apiece. He would then make an impressive long pot on the 2-ball after Kaci's shot rattled out, and followed it up with a dazzling kick on the 4-ball to get his side on the hill.
The two sides engaged in a safety battle for the 1-ball in the next frame, but Shaw's attempted bank missed which opened up the window for Biado to trigger the runout and the victory.
"[Taking the 9-3 lead] is a surprise, but we got some balls down and my team really played well," said Johann Chua, who has a chance to close out this dominant performance in singles play against David Alcaide tomorrow and keep the trophy, named in honor of the great Efren "Bata" Reyes, home.
It was a solid end to the day which started with Team Asia taking the 5-1 rout in team play.
The hosts seized on the Europeans' erratic play, including a sorry Mickey Krause rail miss on the 9-ball to take hold of a 3-0 lead before Ko Pin Yi cleared the table in the next rack to make it to the hill.
Kaci had his own runout to get Team Europe on the board, but Yapp was just as precise, sweeping the table for the win.
Team Europe did earn a point in the third day after Shaw and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz took the 5-3 triumph over the Ko-Chua tandem in doubles play.
FSR's miscue on rack 5, where he jumped the cue straight to a corner pocket scratch, enabled the Asians to take the 3-2 lead.
But the Europeans would take the next three racks, including a runout to take the match.
'Django' wins for Team Asia, as well
So dominant was Team Asia that legends Francisco Bustamante and Jeremy Jones had to play an exhibition for the fans, and as was the case in the competition, it was "Django" who took the 4-2 win.
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