"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.
