The Philippines have reigned victorious at the World Teams Championship for the second time in three editions after staging a two-set comeback to deny Poland in a gripping final in Las Vegas.
A packed out Westgate Resort and Casino witnessed former world 10-ball champion Carlo Biado and his team prevail in an intense shootout, with Jefrey Roda executing the title-winning 10 ball spot shot on his debut in Filipino colours.
Having beaten Great Britain in straight sets four years ago to seal their country’s maiden title, Biado and Rubilen Amit delivered glory for the Philippines once more, this time alongside two-time women’s world 10-ball champion Chezka Centeno and Roda.
Poland had emphatically beaten the formidable Filipino four in straight sets in the opening round of the tournament, although they exacted revenge on that disappointing loss to trouser the $120,000 top prize.
It was Poland who dominated the early exchanges and were seemingly cruising towards the title, but Roda and Centeno set the Filipino comeback into motion with a strong showing to beat Wojciech Szewczyk and Katarzyna Wesolowska in the mixed doubles stanza.
Biado subsequently returned to the table and overturned a two-rack deficit against Daniel Maciol, producing numerous clutch shots under immense pressure, including a sublime double-bank jump shot, to force the dreaded shootout to determine the champions.
Initially Szewczyk and then the usually dependable Biado stumbled in the tense shootout, before Roda stepped up to the plate and capitalised on a wayward attempt from a visibly distraught Maciol to ensure a triumphant campaign.
Amit was not involved in the final after producing a spectacular three-rail safety with the cue ball welded behind the ten ball in their 3-1 semi-final win over the USA, expressing afterwards that it was more nerve-wracking to watch than to play herself.
The Philippines had beaten Puerto Rico, Netherlands, Chinese Taipei and 2010 champions Great Britain before their semi-final win over USA A, with Shane van Boeing, Skyler Woodward and Savannah Easton having dethroned defending champions Joshua and Pia Filler and Moritz Neuhausen of Germany in the quarter-finals.
Poland, meanwhile, avenged their second round defeat to Albin and Jasmin Ouschan’s Austria in the semi-finals, having notably survived a shootout against Naoyuki Oi’s Japan on the one-loss side earlier in the tournament.
Duong Quoc Hoang, Phuong Pham Nam and Bui Xuan Vang were agonisingly close to becoming the first Vietnamese medalists at a WPA-sanctioned world championship, enduring a narrow defeat to Austria in a quarter-final shootout.
