By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Chezka Centeno tries to defend her title while Rubilen Amit guns for her third crown when they compete in the 2024 WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Championship starting on Monday, Nov. 11, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The two Filipina bets arrived at the Puerto Rican capital over the weekend after 27 hours of travel, and are hoping to get enough rest before action begins in the eighth staging of the event.
Both earned opening-round byes.
“Let’s just hope the pool table is less exhausting than the flight,” Centeno quipped on a social media post.
Centeno, 25, captured her biggest career victory after stunning multiple WPA World 9-Ball Champion Han Yu of China, 9-5, to win last year’s crown and is hoping to become the first player to win back-to-back titles in this tournament.
But standing in her way is Amit, a good friend and teammate who is also aiming for a historic third title and a follow up from her world 9-ball title that she earned this year.
Amit, the 43-year-old veteran from Mandaue City, etched her name in history books by becoming the first world women’s 10-ball champion after defeating Liu Hsin-mei of Chinese Taipei in 2009. She followed it up with another title victory four years later, besting English veteran Kelly Fisher.
The tournament was actually held annually from its inaugural staging in 2009 until 2013, before taking a nine-year hiatus. They hosted both the 2022 and 2023 editions in Austria.
While Centeno and Amit have their respective grand plans of taking the crown, 46 other players are also fighting to claim the trophy and the lion’s share of the $175,000 total prize fund.
Among them are former champions Fisher, Chinese Taipei’s Chou Chieh-Yu (2022), and Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan (2010), and 2022 finalist Wei Tzu Chien of Chinese Taipei.
