MANILA, Philippines – For winning the inaugural Women’s World 10-Ball Championship, Rubilen Amit has been seeded to all legs of the Villar Cup series.
“Rubilen’s victory did not just make us, Filipinos, proud. It also shown to the world, once again, how competitive the Filipinos are,” said Sen. Manny Villar, adding he would file a Senate resolution commending Amit’s feat.
Amit, the 27-year-old three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, bested a talent-laden field, posting a 10-4 victory over two-time world 9-ball titleholder Liu Shin-mei of Chinese-Taipei in the finals, to become the first Filipina billiards world champion.
Villar also commended the other RP bets who competed in the event, including 11-year-old Gillian Go, who joined Amit in the knockout stage of the tournament.
Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP) president Vic Rodriguez said that Amit will be seeded in all Villar Cup tournaments starting with the next leg in Bicol next month.
Amit will join former world champions Efren “Bata” Reyes, Ronnie Alcano and Alex Pagulayan, former world no. 1 Dennis Orcollo and Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Warren Kiamco, Lee Van Corteza, Jose Parica, Ramil Gallego, Gandy Valle, Roberto Gomez and Rodolfo Luat in the series presented by Villards: Tulong sa Pagsulong ng Philippine Sports and sponsored by Camella Communities.
Rodriguez also said that Villar will also support Amit and the rest of the country’s top cue artists in all their international campaigns, including the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Laos in December.
“I hope this victory will inspire the youth, especially the women, to get into sports,” said Amit.