Biado, Centeno, Amit stay in respective title hunts

MANILA, Philippines — Carlo Biado, Chezka Centeno and Rubilen Amit are showing the world why the Philippines is the epicenter of the billiards universe.

Biado marched on to the Round of 16 in the WPA Men’s 8-Ball World Championship while Centeno and Amit zoomed to the Last 16 of the Seybert Women’s Open both in St. Louis, Missouri Monday.

Biado smashed Ukrainian Vitaliy Patsura, 8-0, in the loser’s qualification to advance to the Round of 32, where he dumped Peruvian Gerson Martinez Boza, 10-5, to surge through the next phase and close in on the title that has eluded him — the 8-ball crown.

Biado, a world 10-ball and nine-ball king and World Games gold winner, was battling Dutch Marco Teutscher as of this writing.

Centeno and Amit, for their part, remained unscathed after trouncing Taiwanese Chiang Shui Ching, 4-0, 4-3, and German Pia Filler, 3-4, 4-1, 3-3 (2-1), in keeping their title hopes alive.

Centeno also remained in the title race in the St. Louis Mixed Doubles after he and partner, Scottish Jayson Shaw, downed American Justin Bergman and Chinese Fu Xiaofang, 4-2, 4-2, to barge into the semis.

There were some shares of setbacks though as Jeffrey de Luna, Lee Van Corteza and Sean Mark Malayan were all shown the door in the 8-ball title and Biado and Amit exited in the mixed doubles.

But in all, the Filipinos, who have produced world champions in the past including the legendary Efren “Bata” Reyes, have made sure they’re out there in serious fight for more trophies and accolades.