Amit eyes elusive women’s world 9-ball crown

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine pool queen Rubilen Amit resumes her pursuit for the one hardware that has eluded her for more than a decade now as she plunges into action in the Kamui Women’s World 9-Ball Championship set January 19-22 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The 41-year-old Amit left the country less than a week ago alongside countrywoman and fellow Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Chezka Centeno to continue her quest for that evasive world 9-ball crown.

Amit and Centeno will be two of the 64 of the world’s cream of the crop of the sport vying for the top purse worth $30,000, or a whopping P1.6 million, and the glory as the mightiest in the world.

One of the stars participating in the event that is making a much-awaited return after a four-year absence is Brit Kelly Fisher, who trounced Austrian Jasmin Ouschan in ruling the last staging in Sanya, China in 2019.

Interestingly, Amit made it as far as the semifinals in that same edition only to succumb to a steadier Ouschan, 9-2.

The closest Amit got in claiming her breakthrough world 9-ball title was 16 years ago in Taipei where she wound up as runner up to eventual winner Pan Xiaoting of China.

The tournament will implement a double-elimination format of race-to-7, winner breaks matches down to the final-16 where a knockout, race-to-9 system will be implemented.

Both Amit and Centeno have an equal shot at glory having ranked fifth and eighth in the world, respectively.

But it will be more significant for Amit as that world 9-ball silverware will complete her massive collection of triumphs that included two world 10-ball crowns, 10 SEA Games gold, a world 10-ball team title last year when she joined forces with Carlo Biado and Johann Chua in Klagenfurt, Austria.