Amit strokes way to last 8

RUBILEN Amit came into the Yalin World 10-Ball Championship armed with what she felt was her best preparation for a tournament in her career.

All her work has been paying off so far.

The 2009 world 10-ball champion registered two impressive wins yesterday to clinch a place in the quarterfinals of the prestigious tournament at Resorts World Manila.

Returning to the table just a couple of hours after ousting Jeniffer Baretta of the United States in the first knockout phase, Amit showed steely resolve to rally past Yu Chou-chieh of Chinese-Tapei, 8-6, in a pulsating Round of 16 clash.

With the win, Amit advanced opposite Korean Park Eun-ji in a match being played at presstime. Park ousted China’s Liu Sha-sha, 8-6.

Amit’s side of the draw actually has an All-Asian cast with Tsai Pei-chen of Chinese Taipei also advancing to the round of eight after ousting Gao Meng of China, 8-3.

Tsai will face Pan Xiaoting of China, who eliminated crowd favorite and 2010 champion Jasmin Ouschan of Austria, 8-5.

Bucking tightness in her shoulders, Amit fought back from two racks down twice in ousting the Taiwanese, who was seeded fourth and earned a bye in the first knockout stage.

“I haven’t prepared so hard for a tournament,” said the diminutive Cebuana. “The past two months I followed a program to sharpen my game and improve my fitness and focus.”

Amit yielded the first two racks—scratching while shooting the green-6 in the opening frame and missing the orange-5 in the next game to pave the way for a cleanup by Yu.

Yu again took a 5-3 lead in the sixth rack as Amit ran into a spate of errors.

Amit took four straight racks to go on the hill in the 12th rack and then won a safety battle in the 14th rack to set herself up for a long shot on the green-6, which she calmly sank on her way to a runout.