Rubilen Amit bounced back from a finals' loss a day before to beat Chezka Centeno, 7-3, and bag the women’s 9-Ball singles' gold in the billiards competitions of the 30th Southeast Asian Games at the Manila Hotel Tent in Sunday night.
Amit got off to a quick start and despite Centeno closing in to within 4-3, the former easily closed out the last three racks to add the latest gold medal to her collection in another all-Filipina finals' showdown.
There were no pressure or rivalry between the two, although Amit made sure she recovered from losing the 10-Ball singles finals to Centeno with a much steadier performance to the delight of the crowd.
Meanwhile, Dennis Orcollo relied on his vast experience to oust Aloysius Yapp of Singapore, 9-7, and advance to the finals of the men’s 10-Ball singles.
The 40-year-old former world champion took advantage of Yapp’s miss of the 1-ball in the 16th rack to finally close out the Singaporean in a long-drawn match that lasted for almost two hours.
Orcollo got the better of Yapp in a battle of placing shots and a series of bad breaks, as he now hopes to add the 10-Ball gold to his collection in the event which he last won in the 2013 edition of the biennial meet.
“Experience na lang ginawa ko. Depensa, ganu'n. Lumamang ako sa mga placing, placing. Hindi maganda 'yung break namin pareho, kaya 'yung bola namin struggle,” Orcollo said.