Amit, Centeno vie in World 9-ball

The Philippines' top cue artists, Chezka Centeno and Rubilen Amit, will once again carry the country's colors as they compete in the Women's World 9-Ball Championship to be held from 19 to 22 January in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Centeno, the pride of Zamboanga, is a four-time gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games and is regarded to be the heir apparent of Amit, a two-time World Ten Ball champion.

They will play their first major tournament for the year where 64 of the world's best players will dispute the total prize fund of $148,000.

The champion brings home $30,000.

Centeno has yet to win the world crown.

The 23-year-old Centeno first burst onto the scene in 2014 where she immediately stamped her class and went on to win the Asian junior championship.

She continued her exploits a year later, winning the gold medal in the Singapore SEA Games, beating no less than her idol, Amit.

Centeno defeated Amit several more times, hence she was acknowledged as the country's biggest star in the Philippine pool today.

"I'm just consistently training for major events and keeping my focus," Centeno said.

Centeno and Amit left the country Tuesday and they're now both in Washington.

The Women's World 9-Ball Championship will have two stages — the first one will be a race-to-7 and the Stage 2 will be a race-to-9.

The first stage (round of 64) will be a double elimination while the second stage (round of 16) will be a single elimination, which means every game will be a knockout affair.

Aside from the Filipinas, the other crack artists seeing action in the tournament include Kelly and Allison Fisher, Margaret Fefilova and Kristina Tkach of the United States, Silviana Lu of Indonesia, Amalia Matas of Brazil, Woojin Lee of South Korea and Brittany Bryant of Canada.