Carlo Biado leads Filipino bets in World 9-Ball

MANILA, Philippines — Reigning World Games titlist Carlo Biado leads an eight-man Filipino contingent seeking to bring the World 9-ball crown back to the country after seven years.

World No. 7 Biado, together with Johann Chua, Israel Rota, Francisco Felicilda, Jeffrey de Luna, Roland Garcia, Warren Kiamco, and qualifier Jeffrey Ignacio, take a crack at the coveted diadem last won by Francisco “Django” Bustamante in 2010 beginning today at the Al Arabi SC in Doha, Qatar.

Aside from Bustamante, the legendary Efren “Bata” Reyes and Ronnie Alcano also won the 9-ball crown in 1999 and 2006, respectively. Alex Pagulayan won the plum in 2004 under the Canadian flag.

The Filipinos are up against a tough field bannered by Austrian Albin Ouschan, who’s gunning for a rare back-to-back in the $200,000 tournament.

Former champs like Germans Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet, Russian Ruslan Chinakov, British Jayson Shaw, Finnish Mika Immomen, Dutch Niels Feijen and Taiwanese Ko Pin Yi are also dead set on winning it again.

The 128 players in the main draw will be divided into 16 groups and will play a double-elimination format. The top four in each group will advance to the knockout stages.

“Of course, there’s some pressure because you know people will watch your matches but I know the situation already,” Ouschan said on the World Pool Billiard Association website.

“I will just try to stay calm and cook. We all know how many good players are at the World Championship so I can’t say now I want to win or have to win. I just want to be happy with my performance and if it’s good, I can be world champion again,” he said.