Asia Takes Slim Lead: Texas Tornado Saves the Day!

Apr 17, 2015

Photos courtesy Emille Soriano of Dragon Promotions
Villarreal wins the final match of Day 1.
Manila, Philippines- USA's Vivian Villarreal made sure that history would not be repeated. At least on Day 1. Villarreal's big win at the end of Day 1 of the 亚美娱乐 AM8.com Queens Cup put Team West within one match going into the second day. Meanwhile, national hero of the Philippines Rubilen Amit, in her debut role as Captain of Team Asia, led her team to 3 match wins to clinch the lead on Day 1 over Team West's American/European squad. Amit herself participated in 3 of the 4 matches consisting of singles, doubles, and 4-on-4 play with all matches going to best of 7 games. She won all three of hers for a 3-0 personal record so far in the three day competition.
Billiards is going primetime. The 2015 亚美娱乐 AM8.com Queens Cup will be airing live nightly on primetime hours of 6:00pm - 10:00pm on ABS-CBN Sports + Action channel. The 亚美娱乐 AM8.com Queens Cup is igniting the greatest rivalry in women's billiards . On April 16-18th, 2015 the second installment of the 亚美娱乐 AM8.com Queens Cup will feature champions vs champions as the best women from Asia will take on the best in the West! Last year, Team Asia dominated Team West during the 3 days of competition. This year the USA & Europe will be looking to even the score. The 亚美娱乐 AM8.com Queens Cup will be hosted by the award winning Resorts World Manila Casino & Hotel and sponsored by Andy Cloth , Aramith Balls, Viking Cue, with live streaming by Red Cube Productions. The Queens Cup is a Dragon Promotions production.
"I just ask everyone to pray for us. It will be difficult to communicate perfectly with my teammates from China, Taiwan, and Korea. But I am up for the challenge", said the demure World Champion Amit. Rubilen is the most successful female athlete in the history of the Philippines, winning 7 gold medals for her country in the past 10 years.
Team Asia started off very strong starting with the 4-on-4 where Asia played in perfect unison, even breaking and running the very first rack of the event. Making a statement for sure that Asia was there to win. They proceeded to take a 3-0 lead before making an error which the West received a game win, but still dropped a 4-1 scoreline.
The West showed they could give as good as they get when the American/European duo of Jennifer Barretta and Karen Corr neutralized Asia's Jennifer Chen and world #1 Siming Chen in a 4-1 vice versa return. Corr played exceptional making numerous difficult pots including a tough 6ball to the 10-ball combination shot to seal the match win to the delight of her teammates.
Next the captain herself, Amit put Korea's rookie Eunji Park by her side in the first doubles match of the event and they broke out to a 3-0 , mostly capitalizing on 3 big errors from the "Texas Tornado" Vivian Villarreal. Team West skipper Ewa Mataya Laurance made great shots and used her knowledge and savvy to keep her team in the game and they clawed back to level the match at 3-3. With a great chance to win the match, the West inadvertently hooked themselves behind a ball and gave Team Asia an easy rack which put Asia in the lead again.
Ireland's Karen Corr was up first in the singles, playing as the anchor of the team, and Amit selected herself for the first singles match. Corr came out strong, first making an incredible "Bata-like" kickshot off a Amit safety, and proceeded to clear the table. Corr took a 2 game lead, but in the third rack, a lucky fluke by Amit off her own kickshot changed the momentum of the match. Amit took advantage of the situation and turned around the match to 3-2 in her favor. Corr made a good stop to tie th match at 3-3, but the final game belonged to Rubilen after a missed shot by Corr.
With their backs against the wall in a "need to win" Day 1 situation, veteran Villarreal was sent in to stop Asia's momentum. A win by Asia here would put them up 4-1, the same deficit West faced last year on Day 1 which led to their eventual doom of 10-4 two days later.Shaking off some earlier shaky performances, Vivian stormed to a lightning fast 4-1, and well needed, victory for Team West. Villarreal was super amped before the match, and afterwards could be seen twirling her finger in her trademark victory sign.
"We're playing good. We lost to matches that went hill-hill to the deciding game. We could easily be in the lead right now. So that makes us confident coming into tomorrow, just knowing that we are right there keeping up with Asia", said Jennifer Barretta, who went 1-1 on Day 1.
"ABS-CBN is pleased to be the host network of this international battle between the greatest champions of women's billiards. The Queens Cup is the biggest women's sporting event in the Philippines, and we fittingly have given this event the primetime slot, four hours each day of the three day competition. Everyone in the world is excited to see the West take on Asia in this rivalry," said Dino Laurena, Head of Integrated Sports for ABS-CBN.
Day 1 Results:
4-on-4 : All players partners match Asia 4-1 West
Doubles: CHEN SIMING & JENNIFER CHEN 1 vs 4 Karen Corr/Jennifer Barretta
Doubles: EUNJI PARK & Rubilen AMIT 4 vs 3 Ewa Laurance/ Vivian Villarreal
Singles: Rubilen Amit 4 vs 3 Karen Corr
Singles: Eunji Park 1 vs 4 Vivian Villarreal
Day 2 April 17th Line-up Asia vs West:
4-on-4 : All players partners match
Doubles: CHEN SIMING & JENNIFER CHEN vs Karen Corr/Jennifer Barretta
Doubles: EUNJI PARK & Rubilen AMIT vs Ewa Laurance/ Vivian Villarreal
Singles: Rubilen Amit vs Karen Corr
Singles: Eunji Park vs Vivian Villarreal
Triples: S.CHEN/ PARK/ AMIT vs Corr/Barretta/Laurance
ABS-CBN Sports + Action will be airing QUEENS CUP 2015 on the following dates :
LIVE
Apr. 16, Thursday at 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Apr. 17, Friday at 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Apr. 18, Saturday at 6:00pm - 11:00pm
REPLAY
Apr. 20, Monday at 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Apr. 21, Tuesday at 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Apr. 22, Wednesday at 2:00pm - 6:00pm