TWO Filipino cue artists took off to hot starts in the 2025 European Open Pool Championships at the Hills Hotel Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Johann Chua pulled off two straight wins and Carlo Biado followed suit by scoring his own back-to-back victories in the cash-rich tournament.

Looking to finally make it all the way after a runner-up finish last year, Chua started his campaign with an easy 9-1 win over local bet Mustafa Hadzibajric. Chua was then pushed to the limit before making it two-in-a-row as he barely survived Germany’s Boris Ivanovski, 9-8.

Biado took the same route, easily winning his first assignment against Alwaleed Khaled Almudhayan of Saudi Arabia, 9-0. Biado then survived a strong resistance by Ahmed Aldulaimi of Kuwait to escape with a close 9-8 triumph.

Chua will next play Finland’s Riku Romppanen, while Biado’s next assignment will be against Imran Majid of United Kingdom.

A victory in their next assignments will send Chua and Biado to the 64-player knockout stage of the $200,000-tournament,

A total of 256 players across the globe have signed up for the tournament, which dangles a whopping $40,000 top purse.(CCM)

• Tags
• #2025 European Open Pool Championships
• #Bosnia
• #Herzegovina
• #Johann Chua
• #Carlo Biado
• #Mustafa Hadzibajric
• #Boris Ivanovski