After 13 years, Rubilen Amit bagged pool’s golden double in the Southeast Asian Games.
The 40-year-old billiards legend annexed her 10th Games gold and third pools golden double after outlasting compatriot Chezka Centeno, 7-5, in the women’s 10-ball final in the 31st Southeast Asian Games, Saturday at the Hà Đông District Sporting Hall in Hanoi, Vietnam.
This is only the third time, the University of Santo Tomas product went home with pool’s golden double after taking the titles in both 9-ball and 8-ball singles in 2005 Manila and 2009 Vientiane. This time, it is a double in the 9-ball and 10-ball, following her win in the 9-balls just three days ago.
After pocketing a rather testy 11th rack, Amit had a good break in the final rack that saw her pocket the four-ball and spread the table well. She then had an easy time emptying the table and taking the gold.
She opened a 5-2 lead before a series of mishaps saw Centeno level the match at five apiece.
It happened despite a dry break from Centeno in the ninth rack, but a miss from Amit left the former to clean up the table. Another dry break, this time from Amit, gave the opportunity for Centeno to once more finish the rack and the younger Filipino took advantage with the equalizer.
This is the country’s 44th gold of the Games and third in billiards and snooker.
