Diminutive Rubilen Amit showing her big fighting heart came from the brink of being ousted to score a monumental upset in the quarter finals of the JBET Poker.net Women's World 10-Ball Championship when she stung the heavily favored “Black Widow” Jeanette Lee 9-8 to book a place in the semi finals on Saturday.
Amit who had earlier ousted another heavily-favored star Hsiang Ling Tan of Chinese-Taipei 8-3 started off in spectacular fashion racing to a 4-0 lead against the popular Lee, one of the favorites to win the top prize of $20,000.
But one mistake enabled Lee to come roaring back to even the count at 4-4 and then go ahead 7-5. Cheered on by a huge crowd that gathered at the Sky Dome at SM North EDSA Amit kept her composure even in the face of Jeanette's getting to the hill first and leading 8-6.
After a time-out and as she was returning to the table Lee told us, “its tight, really a tight match” while Amit, encouraged not to give up said she would fight to the bitter end which is exactly what she did.
Lee who found her rhythm in the middle racks began to show signs of cracking up when victory was within her grasp while Amit with nothing to loose went for her shots and made them to win the hearts of Filipino fans and the respect of both the “Black Widow” and the other players watching on the sudelines.
The first to get up and embrace Amit while congratulating her for her performance which should provide a major boost to women's pool in the country was former world champion and one of the greatest players of all-time Allison Fisher.
In a post-match interview with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Amit said she was lucky but never gave up even when she was down. She expressed the hope that her spectacular performance would encourage more women to play the game and prove that the Filipino women can be just as good as our men.
She thanked the fans who kept faith with her and watched until late at night to share in her triumph.
Amit who was runner-up in the 2007 Amway World 9-Ball Championship and three-time gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games said it was a “nice feeling winning over Tan” but beating Jeanette Lee was something special.
