MANILA, Philippines — Chezka Centeno took up billiards at age five, playing in dimly-lit pool halls in her hometown in Zamboanga City and stepping on beer cases as she reached for her shots.
Almost two decades later, her unbridled determination and love for the game have given her a legitimate shot at her life-long dream of becoming a world champion.
Displaying magnificent shot-making, the 24-year-old Centeno rose from the grave and snatched a shocking 9-8 hill-hill victory over British legend Allison Fisher Saturday to move on the cusp of ruling the WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Championship in Klagenfurt, Austria.
The many-time Southeast Asian Games gold winner from the Philippines erased an 8-4 deficit by winning the last five racks including the 17th and final frame where she pounced on a foul by Fisher to pull off the biggest upset in the tournament.
The giant-sized triumph catapulted Centeno straight to the finals against three-time world 9-ball queen Yu Han of China, who got through with an empathic 9-2 demolition of battle-scarred Kelly Fisher of England.
It could be extra motivation for Centeno when she tackles Yu in the race-to-nine finale as it was the latter who showed the former’s mentor, two-time world 10-ball champion Rubilen Amit, the door with a 9-3 win in the quarters Friday.
The win also secured Centeno a cool P1.4 million purse – regardless of what happens next.
But for sure, the former world junior champion would hunger for more – a whopping $50,000 (P2.8 million) – the biggest prize in the history of the women’s event.
It also buried the ghost of the painful 9-7 quarterfinal defeat to Fisher in the Kamui World Women’s 9-Ball Championship in Atlantic City, New Jersey last January that denied her a chance at a world crown.
Nine months later, she served Fisher a dish best served cold – revenge.