Kiamco, Biado nail 9-ball doubles gold

Warren Kiamco and Carlo Biado of the Philippines against Liam Han Toh and Aloysius Yapp of Singapore during the 28th SEA Games 9–Ball Pool Doubles held at the OCBC Arena Hall 4, Singapore Sports Hub.
INQUIRER PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

SINGAPORE—Warren Kiamco and Carlo Biado played like one cohesive unit Sunday night to cut down Vietnam’s Do Hung Quan and Nguyen Anh Tuan, 9-6, and nail the men’s 9-ball doubles gold medal in the 28th Southeast Asian Games here.

The duo, who said they didn’t get to practice as often as they wanted, was never threatened in the race-to-9 championship played in the dimly lit, low-ceilinged OCBC Arena Hall 4 inside the Singapore Sports Hub.

Kiamco hardly showed any emotion after sinking the 9-ball to the side pocket for the victory, his fourth gold in the biennial event since 1999.

“We are really worried about them (Vietnamese) because they are good,” said the 45-year-old Kiamco, who has won golds in different pool events in 1999, 2001 and 2003 SEA Games.

“We didn’t lose focus, even when the score was 7-6,” said Kiamco.

Biado, 31, won his first SEAG title after four tries. He said he was jittery in the finals but he kept his focus.

“I told him (Warren) we should practice more but we had so many tournaments (back home),” added Biado, runner-up in the world 10-ball championship.

Billiards legend Efren “Bata” Reyes also made the semifinals in the men’s 1-cushion carom along with teammate Francisco dela Cruz.

Fifteen-year-old Chezka Centeno also advanced to the women’s 9-ball singles semifinals, downing Tan Hui Mina of Singapore, 7-3, despite suffering a bum stomach.

Two-time world champion Rubilen Amit also made the semifinals and is headed for a collision with Centeno. She downed Fahrah Masun of Indonesia, 7-4.

The 60-year-old Reyes, former world champion and renowned worldwide as “the Magician,” grabbed some tricks up his sleeves in beating Rudy Hasan of Indonesia, 100-91, to qualify.

“Wala talo tayo dito (we will lose here),” said Reyes in jest as he said the Vietnamese are the favorites in the event which is played on pocket-less tables as big as that of snookers where each use of cushion is equivalent to points. CFC