Carlo Biado failed to defend his men’s 9-ball crown at the World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama after absorbing a heartbreaking 11-8 defeat to Germany’s Joshua Filler in the semifinals Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
The Southeast Asian Games champion missed his chance to pull away from a 6-all deadlock after a scratch in a 2-9 combination, resulting in Filler cleaning up the rack and eventually setting the tone of the match.
The defeat arranged him a battle for the bronze medal with Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp, where he still lost with a similar 11-8 decision.
Biado trailed 9-7 after a 6-all tie and failed to recover since then to finish fourth in the event.
Ironically, he lost to Yapp, the same opponent he beat in winning the US Open Pool title last year.
In duathlon, Fil-Spaniard Fer Casares landed 14th in the race with a time of 1 hour, 53 minutes and 57 seconds behind eventual gold medalist Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger of France, who finished in 1:47:57.
Casares was also the second best Asian to place in the 30-player field after Japan’s Fumiya Tanaka, who finished 11th.
Kim Mangrobang, meanwhile, was among the 12 athletes that were disqualified in the women’s side following a technical course that was highlighted by 120 corners.
In a report to the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP), coach Ani De Leon-Brown said the women’s race was poorly officiated with only nine athletes finishing as the rest struggled to navigate the course directly with no motorcycle pacer or proper direction placements.
The Philippines filed a formal protest along with the other countries.