MANILA, Philippines — People may look at Europe as the planet’s billiards powerhouse with three of its members — Albanian Eklent Kaci, Scottish Jayson Shaw and Spaniard Francisco Sanchez Ruiz — occupying the top five in the world rankings.
They may have forgotten that Asia is still Earth’s best, and the Philippines is its epicenter.
Filipino Carlo Biado gave them a grim reminder of how powerful the Asians are Thursday night when he teamed up with Singaporean juggernaut Aloysius Yapp in bringing down Kaci and Shaw, 5-3, that gave Team Asia a 9-3 lead vs Team Europe in the inaugural Asia Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
It was one of the two matches won by the host region as its team took the first match, 5-1, before the Europeans snatched the second courtesy of Shaw and Sanchez Ruiz’s 5-3 win over Ko Pin Yi of Taiwan and Filipino Johann Chua.
With the Asians on the cusp of completing their annihilation of the Europeans early with still a day left on the event’s schedule, organizers made the business decision of rescheduling the rest of the matches on the final day.
There, Biado and his team of extraordinary gentlemen could hammer in the final nail in Team Europe’s coffin.
In lieu of the rescheduled matches was the exhibition duel between Filipino legend Francisco “Django” Bustamante and American icon Jeremy Jones, which resulted in an entertaining 4-2 win by the former.