THERE was no stopping the onslaught of Chezka Centeno as she demolished all opponents that went her way, en route to bagging the 2023 WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Championship held in Klagenfurt, Austria.
Nicknamed “The Flash,” Centeno dug deep and flashed her deadly form to defeat three-time WPA 9-Ball champion Han Yu of China via a 9-5 contest.
The road to the championship for the multi-titled Centeno was not an easy one as she had to dispose of the UK’s pool veteran Allison Fisher, whom she defeated first in the elimination stage and then in the semifinals.
In the semis, all seemed lost already for the 24-year-old Zamboanga City native Centeno but somehow, she managed to bounce back and again stole the show from her British foe, winning a close 9-8 match to enter the finals.
In winning her first world pool title, Centeno pocketed US$50,000 (around P2.8 million), which is the biggest prize money in women’s billiards world championship and her biggest earnings yet.
Centeno started playing at the young age of five years old and won the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) Asian Junior Championship in 2014 in the Girls Singles category. She won the women’s 9-ball gold medal the following year at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games held in Singapore.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Philippine Sports Commission Facebook page)