Rañola, Amit gain KO stage

MANILA, Philippines - Iris Rañola survived Charlene Chai Zeet Huey of Singapore and hacked out a thrilling 7-6 victory in a do-or-die match in Group C to advance to the knockout phase of the Women’s World 9-Ball Open Championship in Shenyang, China yesterday.

The win gave Ranola a 2-1 slate in the single round group eliminations among eight players to clinch a spot in the Last 32 of the annual event featuring the world’s leading cuemasters.

“Charlene is strong but I played better at endgame,” said Ranola.

She beat Nicola Rossouw of Pretoria, South Africa, 7-4, but fell to Yu Han of China, 7-1, in the following round.

Earlier, former Women’s World 10-ball champion Rubilen Amit reached the tournament proper with back-to-back scary 7-6 victories over Wu Zhiting of China and Junko Tsuchiya of Japan in Group E.

The $160,000 event offers $40,000 to the winner with the runner-up receiving $20,000.