Amit bags PH's first Women World 9-Ball crown

(UPDATE) RUBILEN Amit became the first Filipino to rule the WPA Women World 9-Ball Championship, winning the 2024 edition at the Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton, New Zealand, on Sunday.

Amit avoided yielding to another Chinese, just like in 2007, when she lost to Pan Xiaoting in Taoyuan. This time, she beat Chen Siming, 3-1, in the race-to-4 racks, best-of-5 sets championship round.

The 2007 runner-up finish was Amit's best placing in the tournament before making the semifinals in 2018 and 2019, both held in Sanya.

Amit, who turns 43 on October 3, bagged the top prize money of $50,000 or more than P2.7 million, while Chen pocketed $30,000 or P1.6 million.

Amit added the World 9-ball championship to her trophy collection, including the 2009 and 2013 10-ball world titles and her 10 golds in the Southeast Asian Games.

It was a come-from-behind finish, just like in her quarterfinal and semifinal contests, where she trailed 0-1, as Chen took the first set and the first rack of the second.

Chen had to go for a safety shot of the 4-ball in the second rack of the second set when she placed the cue ball and 4-ball at opposite ends of the table.

Advertisement

But that was all the break Amit needed. She hit the long, 4-ball shot and banked it to the left side pocket, where she stroked the deciding shot, drawing applause and cheers from the crowd.

Amit went on a runout to tie the rack and ultimately the set, capped by the unintentional pocketing of the 9-ball when she was actually going for a safety shot of the 1-ball in the fifth set.

The Cebuana won the next two sets for the championship.

Amit started the tournament with a 2-0 win over Veronique Menard in the stage 1 race-to-4, best-of-3 sets. A defeat to Taiwanese Chen Chia Hua, 1-2, relegated her to the loser's round.

Advertisement

Amit did not taste another loss after that, disposing of Aussie Gemma Schuman, 2-0, Chinese Yu Han, 2-0, and Taiwanese Chou Chieh-Yu, 2-1, to enter the final stage.

She opened the race to 4, best-of-5 sets by booting out compatriot Chezka Centeno, 3-1.

Amit then stopped Wei Tzu-Chien in the quarterfinal, 3-2, and Kristina Tkach of Individual Neutral Athletes in the semis, 3-2, before