Rubilen Amit wins gold in the 31st Southeast Asian Games. Pool Photo
Pinay billiards icon Rubilen Amit is still the queen of the 9-Ball Pool Singles in the region.
This as Amit claimed her second consecutive Southeast Asian Games gold medal in the women’s 9-ball after overwhelming Hui Ming Tan of Singapore, 7-2, in the finals of the Hanoi Games Tuesday.
This is also Amit’s fifth 9-Ball singles title in the biennial meet, winning in the 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2019 edition of the games.
The athlete also raised her SEA Games medal collection to nine gold and five silver medals.
Amit started strong in the gold medal match, building an early 3-0 lead. But Tan tried to comeback and threatened the Pinay athlete with a 2-0 counter for 2-3 deficit.
“Bahagyang nag-shift ‘yung momentum so focus lang ako. Mahirap ‘yung lamang ka tapos mahahabol ka. Mawawala ka,” said Amit, who wrapped up the title in one hour and 18 minutes.
But the defending champion held on in the sixth rack and eventually romped away with victory as she never let Tan finish any rack until the end.
“Alam ko naman na laban talaga ito. Hindi naman ibibigay sa akin. Hindi naman siya nag-give up. Laban talaga. Expected ko naman ‘yung dikitan pero mabuti na lang hindi umabot doon,” said Amit.