CARLO BIADO brought billiards back in the spotlight after he ruled the prestigious US Open Pool Championship in Atlantic City, making him one of the toasts for the month of September for the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA).
Not to be outdone, Miguel Tabuena and Yuka Saso strutted on foreign soil to put Philippine golf near the top of the totem pole and Tokyo Olympian EJ Obiena jumped to a new Asian men’s pole vault record in the same month
The 37-year-old Biado pulled off one of the comeback for the ages in pool. Singaporean Aloysius Yapp was comfortably ahead, 8-3, but the Filipino won 10 consecutive racks to top the race-to-13 final.
Biado, the world 9-ball kingpin in 2017, gave the Philippines its first US Open crown since Efren “Bata” Reyes hoisted the trophy 27 years ago.
Tabuena scored a breakthrough in the US as the Rio Olympics veteran dished out a tour de force in the Idaho Open, logging a 14-under 196 spiked by a blistering 63 in the second round to beat American Brad Marek by four strokes in the 54-hole event.
Obiena, on the other hand, sparkled in his battlefield as he etched his name as the new Asian pole vault record-holder. The world No. 5 cleared 5.93 meters in his third try to seal his victory in the 17th Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria, while erasing the long-standing Asian record of 5.92m Kazakhstan’s Igor Potapovich set in France in 1992.
Obiena’s fellow campaigner in Tokyo, Saso, delivered a strong showing in the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour by placing fourth in the Arkansas Championship.
The national women’s football team also reaped success by topping Group F of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers against Nepal and Hong Kong to make it back to the continental tournament set next year where a ticket to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup is at stake.