By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Rubilen Amit and Chezka Centeno got off to rousing starts after blanking their respective rivals in the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship in Klagenfurt, Austria Wednesday, Sept. 7.
Both Amit and Centeno scored similar 7-0 wins over Taiwanese Yi Yun Su and Elise Qiu of the Netherlands, respectively, to advance to the next round of the 64-player field.
The victory arranged Amit, a multiple Southeast Asian Games champion, a meeting with Ina Kaplan of Germany, who hammered down Bojana Sarac of Serbia, 7-3.
Centeno, for her part, set up a meeting with another German in Chantal Stadler, who thumped hometown bet Sarah Kapeller, 7-1.
Amit is aching to defend her crown after the tournament was shelved for 9 years. She boasts of two tournament titles – first in the inaugural staging in 2009 and then in the fifth edition in 2013 before the event took a break.
Centeno, for her part, is gunning for back-to-back titles after reigning supreme in the inaugural Asian 9-ball Women’s Championship in Singapore last month.
The event will serve as a warm-up for Amit who will be teaming up with Carlo Biado and Johann Chua in the World Team Championships in the same venue.
The country’s top cue artists are being supported by businessman/sportsman Aristeo “Putch” Puyat.
