Elite status

Carlo Biado added yet another feather in his cap when he was formally selected to be part of the prestigious Billiards Congress of America (BCA) Hall of Fame.

Coming off a successful WPA World 9-Ball Championship title in Jeddah last July, the 41-year-old Biado was elected after garnering 42 of the 46 votes from a Hall of Fame board.

He will be inducted on 22 November in St. Augustine, Florida together with two-time Asian Games medalist Kim Ga-young of South Korea.

With that, Biado became the sixth Filipino to make it to the elite circle after Efren “Bata” Reyes in 2003, Francisco “Django” Bustamante in 2010, Jose Parica in 2014, Alex Pagulayan in 2019 and Dennis Orcollo in 2022.

Biado admitted that the honor was unexpected.

“I am in shock. I am not expecting this now. I think I am not ready yet, but since I was elected, I’m going to take it. It is a blessing and I’m going to share this with my fellow players in the Philippines,” Biado said, adding that he has always been dreaming to become a world champion.

“I never really thought about the Hall of Fame. My main dream was always to be a world champion.”

But the world 9-ball title is just one of the many trophies in Biado’s growing collection.

Prior to that, the 41-year-old cue artist tagged as “Black Tiger” also won the 2015 World 10-Ball Championship as well as the World Games gold medal, the World 9-Ball Championship, and the Southeast Asian Games men’s 9-ball gold in 2017.

Biado was also victorious in the 2021 US Open, 2022 Southeast Asian Games men’s 10-ball gold, 2022 World Teams Championship with Rubilen Amit and Johann Chua, 2022 Puerto Rico Open and the 2024 World 10-Ball Championship.

Biado also led Team Asia, which had Chua, Aloysius Yapp of Singapore, Ko Pin-yi of Chinese Taipei and Duong Quoc Hoang of Vietnam, to victory over Team Europe in the Reyes Cup last October at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

Still, Biado is far from done.

After a Round of 32 exit in the Florida Open Pool Championship last week, the Rosario, La Union native is setting his sights on the US Open Pool Championships title, as it starts on 18 August at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Biado admitted that getting the title he won four years ago will be easier said than done as he takes on the best players in the world.

Among those expected to test Biados’s resolve are Yapp, whom he beat in the 2021 US Open, and Fedor Gorst, who will look to redeem himself after losing to the Filipino cue artist in the final in Jeddah.

“The World Championships in Jeddah had 128 players. The US Open will have 256 players and will be the toughest competition I will be joining this year,” Biado said.

“So, I really need to train even after my win in Jeddah.”