Pool shark Biado spearheads Team PH in Alabama

Billiards ace Carlo Biado will banner a lean Philippine contingent in the quadrennial World Games in Alabama next month, looking forward to the chance to defend the one international title he cherishes the most.

“It only happens every four years, so it was really something special,’’ said Biado in Filipino, referring to the gold medal he clinched in the men’s 9-ball singles when the event was held in Wroclaw, Poland in 2017.

Played a year after every Summer Olympics, the World Games is a global multisport event recognized by the International Olympic Committee and is comprised of 36 sports and disciplines that are usually not contested in the Olympic Games.

There will be 10 other athletes from six sports making up the compact Philippine delegation for the July 7-17 sportsfest to be hosted by the city of Birmingham in Alabama.

Biado, the 2021 US Open 9-ball champion and 2022 US Open 8-ball titleholder will be accompanied by an equally skillful cue master in Rubilen Amit (women’s 9-ball). Jiu-jitsu’s Annie Ramirez (women’s 57 kilogram) and karate’s Junna Tsukii (women’s 50kg kumite) are the other battle-tested Filipino campaigners.

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Likewise joining them in Alabama are muay fighters Phillip Delarmino (men’s 57kg) and Leeana Bade (women’s 63.5kg), powerlifter Joyce Gail Reboton and duathletes Kim Mangrobang, John Chicano and Fernando Casares.

Only the best athletes or teams in a sport for each country are qualified to compete in the World Games, a criteria set by the organizing International World Games Association to guarantee top-quality performance among athletes.

Since the World Games was institutionalized in 1981 in Santa Clara, California, the Philippines already won a total of 11 medals with that Biado gold standing as the Philippines’ first and only triumph. INQ