PInay wins in Women's World 8-ball championship in Wisconsin

Centeno sweeps way to women’s world 8-ball title

Niel Victor C. Masoy
The Manila Times
28 July 2026

FILIPINO cue artist Chezka Centeno swept her way to the Women's World 8-ball title capped by a 9-6 final win over English legend Kelly Fisher at the Oneida Casino Hotel in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States Monday morning in Manila.

Centeno went 7-0 in the tournament punctuated by a zero ball missed match in the final (no missed shot) to grab her third major title after conquering the 2023 and 2025 editions of the World 10-ball Championships.

The 27-year-old Centeno pocketed a prize money of $30,000 or more than P1.8 million from her latest title.

It was a tight battle between Centeno and Fisher, whose safety on the 6-ball was called a foul in the 15th rack.

That paved the way for Centeno to finish the 5 and the 8-ball for the win.

Centeno dedicated her championship to her late mother Josephine who passed away last May.

"Ma, I did it! This is for you," wrote Centeno in a Facebook post Monday.

"Thank you, everyone, for all the love, prayers and support. 2026 Women’s 8-Ball World Champion. All glory is Yours."

Centeno started her campaign with a 7-2 win over American Ada Lio, 7-3 over Turkish Eylül Kibaroğlu, and 7-5 over South Korea Seo Seoa to enter the last 16.

"The Flash" dethroned defending champ Austrian Jasmine Ouschan in the last 16, 8-4, before ousting fellow Filipino Rubilen Amit in the quarterfinals, 8-6.

Centeno took down Taiwanese Wei Tzu-Chien in the semifinals, 8-5, before outlasting Fisher.

Centeno will next participate at the Fujifilm Women's Doubles Master Showdown in Rome, where she will team up with Amit.

The competition will run from Aug. 1 to 4.

PH athletes recently snared medals from various international events

PH harvests medals from rowing, aquatics, archery, bowling, billiards

Philippine News Agency (PNA)
July 9, 2026

Note: All photos are from Philippine Sports Commission Facebook page

MANILA – Aside from tennis' newest star Alex Eala, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, and gymnast bothers Carlos and Eldrew Yulo, a slew of Filipino athletes recently snared medals from various international events.

The Philippine youth team shone at the Asian Rowing Beach Sprint Championships in Pattaya, Thailand with three golds, one silver, and one bronze medal.

Emmanuel Pilar topped the U16 coastal men's single sculls and the double sculls with Kyle Olano; while Khayzie Caviltes and Ayonna Huerto ruled the U19 coastal women's double sculls.

Matt Jugadora pocketed silver in the U19 coastal men's single sculls, and Amelyn Pagulayan-Feiza Lenton took home the bronze in the coastal women's double sculls.

Meanwhile, 2024 Paris Olympian Joanie Delgaco snared bronze in the women’s single sculls at the 67th Internationale Ratzeburger Ruderregatta in Germany.

At the 122nd Vienna International Rowing Regatta in Austria, the Philippine team collected one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Edgar Ilas won in the lightweight men's single sculls while the men’s pair of Rynjie Peñaredondo and Van Maxilom clinched the silver.

Joanie Delgaco added two bronze medals to her collection -- one in the women’s single sculls and another in the women's doubles with Kristine Paraon.

In aquatics, divers Gabriella De Jesus, Gillianne Amber De Leon and Jana Rodriguez brought home a gold each from the 3rd Parisakti Diving International Competition in Jakarta, Indonesia.

De Jesus captured the gold in the platform (Group B Girls), De Leon in the platform (Group B Girls) and Jana Rodriguez in the Open platform girls.

De Jesus added a silver in the 1M springboard (Group B Girls).

Swimmers Riannah Chantelle Coleman and Jamesray Ajido, meanwhile, qualified for the Dakar Youth Olympic Games in Senegal, slated Oct. 31 to Nov. 13.

The other Filipino qualifiers are Pi Durden Wangkay and Naomi Marjorie Cesar (athletics), cyclist Maritanya Krog, and wushu artist Angel Polo.

Three more Filipinos are vying for slots in gymnastics and windsurfing, for a total of nine spots allocated to the Philippines via the universality rule.

Universality places are special entry spots in individual sports for underrepresented or developing nations even if they do not meet strict performance standards.

The Philippines finished 1-2 in the Predator PBC Indonesia International 10-Ball Open, also in Jakarta.

Three-time world champion Carlo "The Black Tiger" Biado beat Paolo Gallito, 10-9.

Biado had won the world 9-ball twice (2017 and 2025) and the world 10-ball in 2024.

Team Philippines likewise made an impact in lawn bowling as Marisa Baronda-Johnson and Jocelyn Salanap dominated at the Lion City Cup in Singapore, striking gold in ends format and silver in sets format.

The Philippine team similarly impressed at the Singapore Youth Archery Championships with a 30-medal haul -- 13-10-7 gold-silver-bronze.

Abigail Jane Lim and Mateusz Vaughn Johnson nailed three individual gold medals each to lead the Filipino achievers.

Eala made it to the fourth round of Wimbledon in London, the first Filipino to go that far in a Grand Slam since Felicisimo Ampon's quarterfinal feat in the 1953 French Open in Paris.

Obiena, who ranked world No. 2 in 2023, won at the Czesław Cybulski Memorial in Poznań, Poland and at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open in Eisenstadt.

At the 13th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championship in China, Carlos and Edriel struck gold and bronze, respectively, in floor exercise.

Obiena and Carlos Yulo, both made it to the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics, with the latter snaring two golds in Paris. (PNA)

FROM PSC FACEBOOK PAGE

05 JULY 2026 - The Philippines secures its first-ever world title as e-Gilas Pilipinas finishes on top at the E-FIBA World Finals Qatar Season 4 in Doha, Qatar. A monumental milestone for Philippine esports basketball on the global stage. 🏀

They swept Türkiye in the grandfinals, 2-0, and  broke through the team's consecutive fourth-place finishes from previous years to and finally lift the championship trophy 

06 JULY 2026 - Pinay weightlifter Alexsandra Ann Diaz delivers a historic performance, claiming golds and breaking records, at the 2026 IWF World Youth Weightlifting Championships in Cali, Colombia. 

Competing in the Girls' 48kg class, the young weightlifting prodigy captured all three available gold medals while establishing new Youth World standards in the Clean & Jerk (98kg) and Total (175kg) lifts. She lifted 77kg to clinch the gold in the snatch category. 

Carlo Biado captures billiard crown anew

Biado dethrones Gorst to win World Pool 9-Ball crown

Niel Victor C. Masoy
Manila Times
27 July 2025

MANILA, Philippines — For a moment there, Filipino cue artist Carlo Biado looked like he was going to find himself on the short end of Russian-American champ Fedor Gorst's fightback.

Trailing early at 0-2 in the race to 15 final of the World Pool Championship (WPC) 9-Ball at the Green Halls in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia early Sunday in Manila, Biado zoomed to a 9-2 lead and stayed in control at 13-9.

Then he scratched the ball off his break in the 23rd rack and it resulted in back-to-back runouts for Gorst, 13-11.

Biado, 41, committed another blunder in the 25th rack, incurring a bad shot after he inadvertently hit the 8-ball first instead of 2 from a tough angle.  

Gorst, 25, pounced on the opportunity and proceeded for another pair of runouts to tie at 13, turning what once looked like a lopsided game into an thrilling match down the stretch.

The momentum shifted in the 27th rack when Gorst got himself a dry break, as Biado turned to his clutch-shot making for a runout to get on the hill and another one for the win, 15-13, and the distinction as the first Filipino player to become a 2-time WPC titlist.

The other Filipino champs were Efren 'Bata' Reyes in 1999, Ronnie Alcano in 2006, and Francisco 'Django' Bustamante in 2010.

"I'm happy because I'm a 2-time world champion now," Biado, who first won the event in 2017, said in an interview with Matchroom Pool. "I could bring this trophy back to the Philippines. I'm so happy a lot of Filipinos were watching and rooting for me (here in the venue)."

Biado added:

"This final is an unforgettable game because Fedor is one of the best players in the world and he's a monster in the table. I'm worried even when I'm leading at 9-2 because if he gets a break, he has a monster break, and that happened today but I'm still focused on the game even when he came back."

Relieved and ecstatic after pocketing the 9-ball in the 28th rack, Biado let out a yell, punched the air multiple times, and climbed to the table top for more celebratory shouting.

Who wouldn't when you make history as the first Filipino player to become a 2-time world champ, when you make $250,000 prize money or more than P14.2 million from it, and when you join the elite list of Earl Strickland, Johnny Archer, Chao Fong-Pang, Thorsten Hohmann and Gorst as multi-time World Pool champions.

Biado defeated compatriot Jefferey Ignacio, Polish Wiktor Zielinski, English Chris Melling, Taiwanese Ko Ping Chung, and another Pinoy player Bernie Regalario in the semifinal before dethroning Gorst in the final.

Gorst made $100,000 or more than P5.7 million as a finalist while Regalario bagged $50,000 or more than P2.8 million like Albanian Kledio Kaci, who lost to Gorst in the other semis bracket Saturday evening.