CARLO Biado defeated compatriot Roland Garcia, 13-5, on Thursday night to become the first Filipino in seven years to win the World 9-Ball Championship.
Biado, 34, ruled the world's premier 9-ball competition to put a fitting end to a banner year that also saw him win gold medals in the World Games and the Southeast Asian Games.
The world No. 7 took home US$30,000 after becoming the first Filipino to win the title since Francisco 'Django' Bustamante captured the title in 2010.
He joins an elite list of Filipino winners led by the legendary Efren 'Bata' Reyes (1999). The other previous Filipino winners are Ronato Alcano (2006) and Fil-Canadian Alex Pagulayan (2004).
In the semifinals, Biado overcame Wu Kun-lin of Chinese Taipei, 11-6, while Garcia won over Klenti Kaci of Albania, 11-6, earlier in the day to arrange an all-Filipino final.
Biado beat Daniel Tangudd, 11-6, and Tomasz Kaplan, 11-8, in the first two rounds of the knockout phase.
In the round-of-16, Biado overcame compatriot Jeffrey Ignacio, 11-7, and downed Liu Haltao after the China ace failed to show up on time for their quarterfinal match.
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