Bingkay’s dream

It is often not the loneliness of being a pioneer in your field that gets to you. Many times, it is waiting for the next one to follow after you’ve broken down the wall. After all, nobody likes being alone representing their country at the highest level of their game indefinitely. This is a familiar feeling to two-time world pool champion Rubilen Amit. Since she started playing professionally in 2005, all she has dreamed of is having a whole platoon of countrywomen following her into the global spotlight.

“For me, personally, I feel like this is my purpose,” Amit told The Star. “I wanted to pave the way for women players. My thinking then was I had to win. I would strive and I would win tournaments. But every time, I’d notice that there was nobody following.”

In women’s billiards, most of the major tournaments have been in Asia. When the pandemic hit, almost all of those events vanished, leaving only Europe and North American to stage big-ticket women’s competitions. This ballooned personal travel expenses of pros like Bingkay from P 80,000 or so to over a quarter of a million pesos. To break even, she would have to at least place in the quarterfinals for bigger events, and the semifinals for smaller events. It was during this time that she and her business partner Ren de Vera thought about staging their own local tournament to develop the market. The opportunity finally came when the pandemic waned in 2022.

“Some of the money came from friends, and Bingkay also used some of her funds,” recalls De Vera. “We started with 24 players, and that number has steadily grown.”

Now, the Amit Cup has become the biggest women’s billiards tournament in the country. Now with four legs building up to the grand finals on April 14, It has involved 112 players earning ranking points to get them a shot at being their division grand champion. Players even travel from other parts of the country to participate, since they have nowhere else to go.

But what is really exciting is that the players themselves recruit others. If they spot a potential competitor somewhere, they actively bring them in for training, regardless if they will become a future rival or not. They realize that women players have to work together to grow their sport and propel each other forward. It’s the only way they can all win.