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| Born | October 3, 1981 Mandaue, Cebu, Philippines | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Rubilen "Bingkay" Amit (born October 3, 1981) is a Filipino female professional pool player from Mandaue, Cebu. Amit is a two-time WPA Women's World Ten-ball champion and the first Filipina pool player to become WPA Women's World Nine-ball champion in 2024. She is also the second Filipino player behind Carlo Biado to win both ten-ball and nine-ball championships.
Rubilen Amit was born in Mandaue, Cebu.
Amit began playing during her teens, often tagging along with her father Bobby at the Super Bowl in Makati. In college, she studied accountancy at the University of Santo Tomas. She participated in and won the 2000 and 2001 College of Commerce and Business Administration's billiards tournaments. [1] After graduating in 2004, Amit worked as a call center agent for a year. In 2005, she was accepted to the Philippine Pool National Team. However, in early 2013, Amit, along with other top Filipino pool players, was removed from the national team due to a controversial reorganization of the national team by the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines. [2] [3] [4] [5]
In 2009, Amit became the first Filipina to become a world pool champion after claiming her first WPA Women's World Ten-ball Championship title, outclassing two-time Women’s World Nine-ball champion Liu Hsin-mei of Taiwan, 10–4 at the SM North in Quezon City, Manila Philippines. [6] Also in 2009, Amit partnered Efren "Bata" Reyes to win the inauragral World Mixed Doubles Classic defeating Korean team of Charlie Williams and Eun Ji Park with a 9–7 score held at the Nuvo City Lifestyle Center in Libis, Quezon City. [7] She also won the 2011 event once again partnering Reyes. The pair beat the American pair of Johnny Archer and Jeannette Lee 10–6 in the final at Shopping Center in Hangzhou, China. [8]
In 2013, Amit won her second WPA Women's World Ten-ball Championship, defeating Kelly Fisher of Great Britain 10–7 in the final at Newport Mall in Pasay City, Philippines. [9] She became the first female pool player to win two ten-ball championships after her victory in 2009. [10]
In 2022, the trio of Amit, Carlo Biado and Johann Chua emerged triumphant in the 2022 WPA World Teams Championship after sweeping Great Britain, 3–0, in the final in Klagenfurt, Austria. Great Britain was composed of Kelly Fisher, Jayson Shaw, and Darren Appleton. [11] With the win, they gave the Philippines its first World Team Ten-ball title after runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2014.
In 2024, Amit won the WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championships in Hamilton, New Zealand, defeating Chen Siming of China 3 sets to 1 (1-4), (4-2), (4-2) and (4-3). She took home the top prize of $50,000 (2.9m PHP). [12]
Amit's victory made her the first Filipina pool player to win the women's world nine-ball title and the second Filipino pool player, after Carlo Biado, to win both the ten-ball and nine-ball world championships. [13]
Amit is a multiple-time Sea Games gold medalists, winning 10 golds, 5 silvers and 1 bronze. She also won 1 silver and 1 bronze at Asian Indoor Games.
In 2019, Amit was recognized as one of the Top 100 Cebuano personalities by The Freeman, Cebu's longest-running newspaper. She was recognized alongside Tomas Osmeña, Resil Mojares, and Max Surban as part of the centennial anniversary of the local newspaper. [14]
Efren Manalang Reyes, popularly known by the nicknames "Bata" and "the Magician", is a Filipino professional pool player, who is widely regarded as the greatest pool player of all time, and especially famed for his skill at the challenging one-pocket discipline. In 2003, he was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame.
Francisco Bustamante is a Filipino professional pool player from Tarlac, Central Luzon and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion, nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the 1966 film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States. Bustamante has won over 70 international titles and is considered one of the greatest pool players of all time.
Marlon Manalo, also known by the nickname "Marvelous Captain", is a former Filipino professional pool player. He previously served as barangay chairman of Barangay Malamig, Mandaluyong. He also became the press relation officer of the League of Barangays of the Philippines and ABC president.
Dennis Orcollo, sometimes called Dennis Orcullo, is a Filipino professional pool player, nicknamed "Surigao" and "RoboCop". He has been called "The Money-Game King". Orcollo is considered one of the greatest pool players of all time.
Jeffrey de Luna is a Filipino professional pool player from Manila. De Luna reached the semifinals of the 2019 U.S. Open Pool Championship, but would lose to eventual champion Joshua Filler of Germany.
Ronato (Ronnie) Alcano, is a Filipino professional pool player, nicknamed "Ronnie Calamba" and "the Volcano". He won both the 2006 WPA World Nine-ball Championship and the 2007 WPA World Eight-ball Championship.
Lee Vann Corteza, also spelled Lee Van Corteza, is a Filipino professional pool player. He is nicknamed "The Slayer", and started playing pool in 1993.
Kim Ga-young is a South Korean female professional pool player who plays on the Women's Professional Billiard Association Tour. Her father began teaching her to play three-cushion billiards when she was about twelve years old. After playing three-cushion for about three years, she started playing nine-ball pool and turned pro at the 2003 BCA Open.
The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The event was first held in 2008 in the Philippines, followed by playings there in 2009 and 2011. After not being contested for several years, it was resurrected in 2015 by boxer Manny Pacquiao, who successfully campaigned to the WPA for the championship to be moved from Metro Manila to General Santos. An event was announced in June 2018, but was postponed until relocating to the Las Vegas Valley in 2019. The scheduled 2020 championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent playings have been held in the fall of 2021 and the spring of 2022.
Chezka Centeno is a Filipina professional pool player from Zamboanga City. In 2023, Centeno claimed her biggest career win after she defeated multiple WPA World Nine-ball Champion Han Yu of China, 9–5, to win the Predator WPA women's World Ten-ball Championship.
Carlo Biado is a Filipino professional pool player. His highest profile wins include the World Nine-ball Championship and the World Ten-ball Championship in 2017 and 2024 respectively.
Johann Gonzales Chua is a Filipino professional pool player from Manila. His nickname is "Bad Koi". Chua is a 2023 World Cup of Pool champion alongside James Aranas. He is also a two-time All Japan Championship winner, winning the event in 2015 and 2017. In 2024, Chua was crowned the Mansion Sports Hanoi Open Pool Championship winner.
Ko Pin-yi is a Taiwanese professional pool player. He became multiple World Champion in the disciplines of Nine-ball and Ten-ball in 2015.
Chang Jung-lin is a Taiwanese professional Eight-ball and Nine-ball pool player.
Joshua Filler is a German professional pool player from Bönen, Germany. In 2018 Filler defeated Carlo Biado 13–10 to win the 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship. In 2017 he was the youngest player to win the China Open, and in 2018 he also won the 10-ball European Pool Championships. Filler became WPA and Euro Tour world number 1 in 2019, and later he reached the final of the 2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship before losing 10–7 to Ko Ping-chung.
Roland Garcia is a professional pool player from Magalang, Philippines. Garcia reached the final of the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Championship; but lost 5-13 to Carlo Biado. Garcia had also reached the quarter-final of the China Open in 2016, and the last 32 of the world nine-ball championship in 2018.
The year of 2019 included professional tournaments surrounding table-top cue sports. These events include snooker, pool disciplines and billiards. Whilst these are traditionally singles sports, some matches and tournaments are held as doubles, or team events. The snooker season runs between May and April, whilst the pool and billiards seasons run in the calendar year.
Chen Siming is a Chinese professional pool player. Chen is best known for winning the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Championship.
The WPA World Team Championship is a pool World Championship for national teams sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). the event founded in 2010 by the WPA and was held every two years until 2014.
Aloysius Yapp is a Singaporean professional pool player. He was the world junior champion in nine-ball in 2014 and runner-up in the 2021. In 2023, Yapp defeated David Alcaide of Spain in the final, 13-7, to win the International Open 9-Ball Championship in Norfolk Virginia, USA.
