Centeno gets early boot, Amit advances in SEA Games women's 9-ball pool singles

MANILA, Philippines — A 1-2 finish for the Philippines in the women's 9-ball pool will not be repeated in the 31st Southeast Asian Games as Filipina bet Chezka Centeno suffered an early exit in the quarterfinals against Vietnam's Bich Tram Nguyen, 6-7, at Ha Dong Gymnasium in Hanoi on Sunday.

The 2019 SEA Games silver medalist couldn't sustain the momentum even after she came back from a 1-5 deficit as Vietnam's home court advantage gave Nguyen an early lead.

Centeno managed to take four racks in succession to tie the match 5-5.

Rack 11 saw Nguyen struggle to pocket the third ball, eventually conceding the rack to Centeno, who quickly finished the game to bring her to match point.

She then opened Rack 12 by pocketing four balls on her break. But a miscalculation on the fifth ball gave Vietnam the advantage with just two three balls remaining to tie the series, 6-6.

Nguyen was able to maximize her break, pocketing one ball and wasting no time in finishing Rack 13 to take the match.

Fellow Filipina Rubilen Amit, the defending champion, survived Singapore's Zeet Huey Charlene Chai in another close match, 7-6, to book her semifinals slot.

The rest of the Philippine contingent suffered mixed results.

Alvin Barbero will miss the quarterfinals of the men's snooker 6-red singles after falling to Laos' Daophachan Phoutthabandit, 1-5, while Johann Chua made quick work of  Anongsak Obmalay also of Laos, 9-3, to reach the men's 9-ball sngles quarterfinals.