Amit, Ranola suffer major setbacks in AMWAY 9-ball

THE COUNTRY’s top two women’s pool players suffered heart-breaking losses yesterday in the on-going 2012 AMWAY eSpring Women’s World 9-Ball Open in Taipei, Taiwan.
After former Women’s World 10-ball champion Rubilen “Bingkay” Amit won her first two matches against M. Kleingeld, 7-0, and K. Ebe, 7-3, she lost her next two to Y.T. Chan, 5-7, and Han-Ru Yang, 2-7, respectively.
Amit, a major awardee in the Sportswriters Association of Cebu-San Miguel Corp. All-Cebu Sports Awards early this month, will next face S.M. Chen in their group play.
Iris Ranola was in a more precarious situation.
After a big win against Fu Xiao-Fang, 7-4, in the opening round, Ranola, the reigning Southeast Asian Games double gold medallist and Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) awardee lost her touch and her games to B.R. Jung, 1-7; M. Grujicic, 1-7; and  C.Y. Chou, 0-7, dimming her chances of advancing to the knock-out stage.
The first three players in each group will advance to the single knock out stage.
The tournament, which has a total purse of $70,000, is sanctioned by the WPA and organized by the Chinese Taipei Billiards Federation (CTBF). /correspondent Marlon Bernardino