MANILA, Philippines – Defending champion Carlo Biado fought back from the losers’ bracket to stay alive in the US Open Pool Championship in Atlantic City as he and four other Filipinos reached the last 64 round.

Biado lost 9-6 to compatriot Joven Bustamante, who is now representing USA, and found himself dropped to the losers’ bracket, where he beat Chen Chia-hua of Chinese Taipei to keep his title repeat bid running.

The former nine-ball world champion Biado posted a 9-4 win over his Taiwanese foe on Wednesday, October 12, to arrange a last 64 battle with Finland’s Petri Makkonen.

Johann Chua, Lee Vann Corteza, and Roland Garcia trekked the same path as Biado as they all overcame their respective opponents in the losers’ bracket to advance.

Reigning SEA Games nine-ball champion Chua toppled USA’s Tony Robles, 9-5, Corteza coasted to a 9-2 rout of Canada’s Stephen Holem, while Garcia thwarted Greece’s Nick Ekonomopoulos, 9-3.

Corteza and Garcia then became the first Filipinos to reach the last 32 as they respectively beat Britain’s Jayson Shaw, 9-2, and Colombia’s Jesus Atencio, 9-4, on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Roberto Gomez remained the only unbeaten Filipino in the 256-man tournament after hacking out a 9-6 victory over Britain’s Darren Appleton.

Gomez seeks to barge into the last 32 as he goes up against Wu Kun Lin of Chinese Taipei, while Chua tangles with Albania’s Eklent Kaci.

The champion here will take home the grand prize of $50,000 (nearly P3 million). – Rappler.com