Amit rallies to trounce German foe, enters quarters in World Games women's 9-ball

MANILA, Philippines – World pool champion Rubilen Amit clawed her way back from the grave as she turned back upset-conscious Pia Filler of Germany, 9-8, on Friday to advance to the quarterfinals of women’s 9-ball in the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.

Given up for dead after trailing 6-8 in their race-to-nine duel, the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist kept her cool and fought back by snaring the last three frames and the match.

The triumph set Amit up against another German in Veronika Ivanovskaia, who smashed Argentine Bernarda Ayala, 9-1, in the quarters today.

Amit joined countryman and fellow world titlist Carlo Biado, who accounted for the country’s only gold in Wroclaw, Poland in 2017, in the round-of-eight of the men’s cast.

Biado made it through after also threading through the proverbial eye of the needle with an 11-10 win over Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski Thursday that sent him to the next round versus Austrian Albin Ouschan, an 11-8 winner over South African Aden Carl Joseph.

Both Amit and Biado are aiming for nothing less than a gold medal and join Fil-Japanese karateka Junna Tsukii, who delivered the country’s first mint in the quadrennial event for sports not in the Olympic calendar but are popular in the globe, in the golden club.