By REYNALD MAGALLON
Chezka Centeno continued to roll, beating Japanese bet Chihiro Kawahara, 7-4, to get a shot at securing a quarterfinals seat in the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship in Klagenfurt, Austria Thursday, Sept. 8.
The reigning Asian 9-ball Open champion now awaits her opponent which will be drawn from the winners of the loser’s qualification for the last sixteen to stay in hunt for the lion’s share of the $148,000 (P8.4 million) prize pool.
Centeno remains as the only Filipino bet in the tournament after Southeast Asian Games double-gold winner Rubilen Amit bowed out of contention following a tough 7-3 loss to Polish player Monika Zabek.
Amit’s bid for a third crown took a bad turn when she absorbed a stinging 7-5 defeat at the hands of Germany’s Ina Kaplan and just couldn’t get enough break against Zabek in the loser’s qualification, ultimately slamming the door on a possible title retention for the two-time World 10-ball champion.
Meanwhile, Team Philippines showed poise under pressure and defeated Great Britain in a shootout to advance to the quarterfinals of the World’s team event.
The Filipinos went off to a good start as both Amit and Carlo Biado scored 4-2 triumphs against Kelly Fisher and Jayson Shaw respectively.
The British however came back roaring as the duo of Fisher and Darren Appleton defeated Amit and Johann Chua, 4-2, before Shaw pulled off a 4-2 reversal on Biado to even the count and force the shootout which was eventually won by the Filipinos, 3-1.
Philippines eyes a seat in the semis when it takes on Poland in the quarterfinals, Friday, Sept. 9