Amit pulls off thriller, gains Last 8 spot  

MANILA, Philippines — World pool champion Rubilen Amit clawed her way back from the grave and edged upset-conscious Pia Filler of Germany, 9-8, yesterday to advance to the quarterfinals of women’s 9-ball in the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.

Pushed to the wall after trailing 6-8 in their race-to-nine duel, the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games double-gold medalist kept her cool and snared the last three frames and the match.

The triumph set Amit up against another German in Veronika Ivanovskaia, who smashed Argentine Bernarda Ayala, 9-1, in the quarters.

Amit joined countryman and fellow world titlist Carlo Biado – holder of the country’s previous lone gold won in Wroclaw, Poland in 2017 – in the round-of-eight.

Biado made the Last Eight after threading the proverbial eye of the needle with an 11-10 win over Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski last Thursday that sent him to the next round versus Austrian Albin Ouschan, an 11-8 winner over South African Aden Carl Joseph.

Both Amit and Biado are in the hunt to join Fil-Japanese karateka Junna Tsukii as top-podium performers in the quadrennial event for sports not in the Olympic calendar.