RUBILEN Amit and Mary-Ann Basas of the Philippines led early in their respective matches but failed to advance in the next round after losing in their last 16 assignment of the 2008 WPA Amway World Women's 9-Ball Championship yesterday in Taipei, Taiwan.
The Cebuana native Amit fell short against world No.1 Jasmin Ouschan of Austria, 4-7, while Basas, was nipped by Chieh-Yu Chou of Chinese-Taipei, 6-7.
Ouschan, who also beat Amit in their group stage play in last year's edition will square off with Chou in the quarter-final round.
Amit and Basas, whose stint here is being supported by sportsman/ businessman Aristeo "Putch" Puyat, are both under the watchful eye of national women's head coach Boyet Asonto.
"Sayang, parehong lamang sa simula sina Rubilen (Amit) at Mary-Ann (Basas) pero minalas sa bandang huli," said coach Boyet Asonto, in a long distance telephone interview yesterday.
Putch Puyat, commented yesterday "Proud ako sa mga player natin kasi ginawa nila ang kanilang best para sa bayan, 'yung nga lamang ay hindi pumabor ang bola sa laro nila sa last 16" said Puyat.
Amit led the match 3-1, but errors let Ouschan back into the match for the 7-4 win according to the official website yesterday while local hopeful Chou are still alive after an unbelievable win over Basas. Basas led the match 5-2, but missed a 5-ball allowing Chou back to the table. Chou evened the score at 5-5 before scratching on a 9-ball. Basas reclaimed the lead at 6-5, breaking for the match. A safety by Basas went awry when Chou kicked at the 2-ball and ended up making the 9-ball to tie the match at 6-6. Chou then went on to win the final game.
Basas who needed to go through the qualification tournament, finished with two wins and 3 loses in Group F while last year's runner-up Amit topped the Group H bracket with four wins and one loss to automatically advance in the round-of-16. Basas, meanwhile disposed of Hsiang Lin-Tan of Chinese-Taipei, 7-3, in the last 24 to advance in the last 16.
In other matches, Hsiao-Chi Lin of Chinese-Taipei turned back 2007 Macau Asian Indoor Games 9-Ball Champion and Osaka Open Champion Shu-Han Chang of Japan, 7-6, to face Allison Fisher who beat countryman Kelly Fisher of Great Britain, 7-3, in the last 24 and Yukiko Hamanashi of Japan , 7-4, in the last 16.
Tournament favorite Jeanette "The Black Widow" Lee of the United States continued her winning ways by crushing Line Kjorsvik of Norway, 7-6, in the last 24 and Akimi Kajitani of Japan, 7-3, in the last 16 to meet Yuan Chung-lin of Chinese-Taipei in the next round.
submitted by MARLON BERNARDINO, edited by jovie sison
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