After a change of heart, Josh Filler opted to follow his dream of winning the World 8-Ball Championship in New Zealand and rolled to the title.

By Keith Paradise
Photos by Matt Porinsky

Well before the Yalin WPA World 8-Ball Men's Championship started in Hamilton, New Zealand, in September, Germany's Joshua Filler was already the talk of the tournament.

As the threat of a ban by the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports and World Pool Association of Asian competitors for competing in Matchroom's World Nineball Tour events loomed, many of the top professional players throughout the world issued statements on their social media pages in August, joining together in a boycott of WPA-sanctioned events — including the World 8-Ball Championship. Among the outspoken pros were Shane Van Boening, Fedor Gorst and ultimately Filler.

“We stand together,” Filler posted in all-capital letters on August 9. “I personally know how it is to be threatened by federations and them trying to put me under pressure and this needs to be stopped. Enough is enough!”

Yet, as August transitioned to September and the championship was set to begin, Filler's name was listed on the roster of players scheduled to compete. Little over three weeks after his first statement, the German issued another, this time walking back his original remarks. He alleged that conversations began about the boycott while the players were in Fulda, Germany, for the European Open. Rumors swirled that Matchroom's Hanoi Open, not sanctioned by the WPA, was in jeopardy and that players agreed to band together in resistance. Although Filler joined in, he claimed he did so with trepidation, since he had already spent thousands of dollars for travel to New Zealand to compete in an event that he said he had always dreamed of winning. Additionally, he would be traveling to the event with his wife, Pia, allowing them to compete and spend time together. As a result, he announced that he would indeed be playing in the World 8-Ball Championship.

“I just agreed (to the boycott) in this moment as I wanted my mind focused on winning the European Open as I was trying to qualify for the Reyes and Mosconi Cup,” wrote Filler. “Of course, now I know I've made a mistake in just going ahead and doing this statement.”



Naturally, Filler was grilled for the decision and his reasons on social media.

In the end, though, Filler got his money's worth for his troubles, posting an undefeated record on his way to earning his first World 8-Ball title, edging Chinese Taipei's Jui-An Hsu in the final, 10-8. Filler's resume now includes a World 9-Ball, U.S. Open 9-Ball and World 8-Ball championship in a career that is not even a decade old.

The boycott by many of the world's top players left a dearth of talent at the tournament, with defending champion Van Boening opting to sit this year's event out along with 2022 champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and two-time World 10-Ball Champion Eklent Kaci. Only one American — junior star Adrian Prasad — traveled to the event as United States Mosconi Cup team captain Skyler Woodward, Oscar Dominguez and Tyler Styer opted to not compete. Reigning World Pool and U.S. Open Champion Fedor Gorst was in attendance for the event but only as a spectator to support fiancé Kristina Tkach, who was competing in the Masse WPA Women World 9-Ball Championship taking place in the same venue.

Filler opened play in the 64-player, double-elimination event with a commanding 8-3 victory over fellow German Thorsten Hohmann, 8-3, breezed by Hybler Roman, 8-4, and advanced to the second phase of the event with an 8-2 decision over Austria's Daniel Guttenberger. With play transitioning to a single-elimination, race-to-10 format, the German continued to put on a commanding performance, defeating Roman again, 10-4, to reach the quarterfinals where he met former World 8-Ball Champion Jung-Lin Chang of Chinese Taipei.

The match had an atmosphere more suited for a championship finals, with Filler jumping out to leads of 3-1 and 7-2, taking advantage of a couple of unforced errors by Chang in the early stages of the match. When Filler failed to pocket a ball on the break in the 10th game, Chang capitalized, clearing the table then breaking and running four straight racks to tie the score before failing to pocket a ball on the break in the 15th game. Filler cleared the table, to regain the lead, then took advantage of a Chang foul to pull to add another win.


Wu (top) battled to the semifinals before losing to Filler, while “local hero” Teutscher (above) thrilled fans with a deep run.

Standing at the table with a chance to clinch the match, Filler failed to pocket a ball on the break, then lost a safety exchange, as Chang cleared the table to pull to within 9-8. Chang broke and had a chance to tie the match but missed a long shot on the 9 ball into the corner pocket. Filler capitalized, clearing the table to win the rack and snatch the match, 10-8. Filler then quickly dispatched Kun-Lin Wu of Chinese Taipei, 10-2, to earn a spot in the final.

On the opposite side of the bracket, Hsu was having a much more difficult time working his way through the tournament.

The unheralded Taiwanese player opened by gutting out an 8-6 victory over Carlo Biado and survived a hill-hill match against Chinese Taipei's Hsieh-Chia Chen before finally winning with some breathing room, cruising past Mario He, 8-1, to earn a trip to the single-elimination round of 16. He began the single-elimination portion of the event by taking down a pair of Poles, defeating Mieszko Fortunski, 10-8, then Konrad Juszczyszyn, 10-7, and advanced to the final after squeaking past Marco Teutscher, a native of the Netherlands but resident of New Zealand, 10-8.

Hsu jumped out to an early lead 3-0 in the final, breaking and running twice and taking advantage of a missed shot by Filler in the second game. Filler got on the scoreboard in the fourth game when Hsu missed, then broke and ran three consecutive racks to grab a 4-3 lead. Hsu was able to tie the match when the German failed to pocket a ball on the break in the eighth rack, but Filler promptly regained the lead when Hsu missed his opening shot in the next frame.

Any time it appeared that a player might have gained an advantage, the momentum shifted. When Filler attempted to play a safety after his break in the 10th game, he left enough of a window for Hsu to clear the table and tie the score. Filler regained the lead when Hsu failed to pocket a ball on the break in the 11th game, then broke dry himself, once again allowing Hsu to tie the match.

After Hsu broke and ran to regain a 7-6 lead, he failed to pocket a ball on the break in the following game, allowing Filler to pull even then regain the lead when he executed a break and run of his own. Standing at the table with a chance to become to reach the hill, the German again came up dry with his break shot and allowed Hsu to tie the score, 8-8. Now at the table with the break, Hsu again could not land a ball and sat down and watched as Filler cleared the table to edge out in front, 9-8.


Surprising Hsu made his presence felt in New Zealand.

Filler broke in the 18th game and pocketed a ball but also left the 5 and 11 balls tied up near the long rail. He used a cut shot on the 6 ball into the side pocket to break up the cluster, then used a shot down the opposite rail to secure position on a 3 ball that was also partially blocked. He rolled the object ball into the corner pocket down table, then used a draw shot on the 5 ball to back the cue ball up for position on a match-clinching 8 ball that he rolled in with ease, dropping his head and shoulders after securing the victory.

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The Legend Grows

Double World 10-Ball Champion Rubilen Amit added the World 9-Ball crown to her resume with an impressive run in New Zealand.

By Keith Paradise
Photos by Matt Porinsky

As 2019 drew to a close, Rubilen Amit had a bit of a premonition about her career.

“I was really feeling the momentum when I thought to myself, ‘I think I'm going to win the World 9-Ball Championships pretty soon,'” said Amit.

And why wouldn't she feel this way? She had won two Women's World 10-Ball titles in her career and had just finished third at that year's World 9-Ball Championship while also finishing second to Siming Chen at the China Open.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic broke out throughout the world, leaving Amit locked down in the Philippines where her first priority wasn't winning a world title — in fact she didn't compete at all for two years — but taking care of her family. When she finally did come back to competitive play, she battled consistency issues and recently attempted to remedy this with a new training regimen that includes swimming, going to the gym and mental training.



Four years later, the 42-year-old turned out to be right all along, avenging an early loss to Chia Hua Chen to win the Masse WPA Women's World 9-Ball Championship, defeating previously unbeaten Siming Chen in the final, 1-4, 4-2, 4-2, 4-3, in Hamilton, New Zealand, last month. She earned the victory in dramatic fashion, facing a gauntlet of the world's best women's competitors and coming from behind twice down the stretch to seal the victory, her first world 9-ball title.

“I'm pretty happy and confident that I should just continue everything I've been doing,” she said. “It's just about trying to be resilient, just trying to do the correct process and trying to do the right thing day in and day out. So maybe this tournament is confirmation that what I'm doing, what I've added, I'm doing something right.”

The Women's World Championship was resurrected last year by equipment manufacturer Predator after a three-year hiatus, with competitors competing in a race-to-seven in the opening phase and races-to-nine in the final stage. This year's championship was modified to resemble the company's Pro Billiard Series format, with players competing in a race-to-four, best-of-three sets format in the double-elimination opening stage that was expanded to best-of-five sets in the knockout final stage. The change to short sets was not viewed favorably by all, with Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Allison Fisher airing her disappointment on Facebook during the event.

“As much as I appreciate what Predator is doing for Women's Pool, I can't possibly support this format for a World Championship,” said Fisher, who has won four World 9-Ball Championships in her career and finished second in last year's event. “It's fine for a sponsor to format their own events no problem, but please don't hurt the integrity of the sport in a World Championship.”

Meanwhile, Amit opened play with a 4-1, 4-0 defeat of Canada's Veronique Menard then won the opening set against Chinese Taipei's Chen, but watched Chen come back and win the second frame 4-2. After the two players tied the third frame 3-3, the match went to a sudden death shootout, which Chen won, 3-1. Now playing on the one-loss side of the bracket, Amit defeated longtime nemesis Han Yu of China, 4-3, 4-2, then recovered from a 4-0 loss in the opening frame to win the last two sets, 4-0, 4-2, over defending champion Chieh-Yu Chou and secure a matchup in the final 16 against her close friend Chezka Centeno, also of the Philippines.


Four-time World 9-Ball Champion Fisher let her feelings on the 2024 format known in a social media post after finishing 17th.

Amit won the first two sets 4-0, 4-1, dropped the third set, 4-1, but rallied to secure the victory with a 4-1 win in the fifth frame.

Her work didn't get any easier in the quarterfinals where she met Tzu-Chien Wei of Chinese Taipei, who pitched a 4-0 shutout in the first set before Amit blanked her in back-to-back sets to take a 2-1 lead. After Wei rallied in to tie the match with a 4-1 victory in the fourth frame, the Filipina bounced back to earn a trip to the semifinals with a 4-2 victory in the final frame.

Amit traditionally doesn't look at the brackets during an event, choosing instead to learn who her opponent is minutes before the match is about to begin so she doesn't overthink the situation. When she reached the semifinals and drew Tkach, she realized she had not played her recently and was unfamiliar with her game. She got a quick lesson, as the Russian won the opening set 4-2, battled to a 4-3 defeat in the second frame but clinched the third frame 4-2 to secure a 2-1 lead. As Tkach built her early lead, Amit was taking notes on how she was breaking the balls and started experimenting with her own break as the match went on. As the Russian started to struggle with her energy levels and concentration, Amit capitalized. With the crowd now vociferously behind her, cheering each victorious rack, she won the fourth and fifth sets 4-1 to steal the match and earn a date with Siming Chen in the final the following day.

“It was not easy, but I feel like I've made a couple mistakes and also she had a couple good rolls,” said Tkach, who has been battling medical issues that has resulted in a medication change in recent weeks. “I had a couple bad rolls and obviously if you don't want to get bad rolls, don't make mistakes.”

After nearly four years of competing solely in China during the pandemic, Chen returned to the worldwide stage this spring, losing to Centeno in the finale of the Alfa Women's Las Vegas Open. Chen was again a model of consistency in New Zealand, defeating Camelia Cook, Tzu-Chien Wei and Pia Piller in straight sets in the first stage of play, then eliminating Seo Seoa in straight sets, 4-2, 4-2, 4-0, in the round of 16 before needing all five sets to defeat Hall of Famer and former World Champion Kelly Fisher 3-4, 4-3, 4-3, 4-1, 4-1, to earn a spot in the semifinals. There she dispatched Japan's Chihiro Kawahara, 4-3, 4-0, 4-0.

Amit drew first blood in the opening set in the title match, taking advantage of a Chen foul. Her momentum was short lived, as Chen's powerful break and dominating game were on display throughout the rest of the set, clearing the table in the next rack to tie the score after Amit fouled. She then broke and ran and used a successful jump shot after pushing out to again clear the table and build a 3-1 lead. After Amit missed the 2 ball in the fifth game, Chen ran out to secure a comfortable 4-1 win and a one set lead.


Favorite Chen looked unstoppable prior to the finale.

From that point, however, Amit controlled the match. Chen won the opening rack of the second set, but Amit responded in the next game, using a table-length bank shot of the 2 ball after a safety to run out and tie the score, 1-1.

It is a shot that she said that she normally wouldn't attempt in such a situation but felt that she needed to at that moment.

“If that's me on a regular day, I think I would do the safety shot,” she said. “But for that particular situation, I think I needed to do something extra. I think I needed to do something extra just to get back get that momentum back and get the crowd back into it. Having so many supporters in the crowd sometimes can be nerve-wracking, but then they're like Red Bull. They're like an energy drink when you're down. They just bring you back.”

Chen had a chance to retake the lead after winning a safety but missed, allowing Amit to take the lead. The Filipina used a victorious safety exchange to increase her advantage to 3-1, but Chen trimmed the deficit to 3-2.

The two-time China Open champion landed three balls on the break in the sixth game but was forced to play a safety on the 1 ball. Amit attempted a safety of her own, but instead bumped the 1 ball across the table and watched the ball carom the 9 ball into the side pocket, handing her a 4-2 second set win to tie the match and turning that pro-Philippines crowd into a six-pack of Red Bull.

“The 9 ball going in there, I was like, ‘Maybe this is the match for me,'” she said. “But honestly, it was just a one-ball-at-a-time thing. It's just focusing on every shot, gaining momentum and trying to do the right shot every time.”

The Filipina used a break and run along with a table-length one-rail kick in of the 1 ball to build a 2-0 lead in the third set, but Chen took advantage of a successful safety to climb onto the board in the third rack. After using safety exchanges to split the next two racks, Amit took advantage of a foul by the former World Champion to take ball-in-hand and a 4-2 third set victory.

By that point, Amit had her break dialed in — thanks in large part to the knowledge she gained from her previous match on the same table against Tkach.

“That's why I think I had more confidence also during that match because it's different when you have your break with you versus when you're just trying to get lucky,” said Amit.


Steady Tkach missed her chances against Amit.

Amit won the first two racks of the fourth set to build a 2-0 lead but was starting to feel the nerves as she inched closer to the finish line. The Filipina missed in the third rack, then Chen secured the rack after forcing Amit into a foul. Chen then tied the set thanks to a successful one-rail kick in the subsequent rack and took the lead when Amit missed in the following game, climbing onto the hill and to within a game of tying the match at two sets each. Chen broke in the next rack and looked like she was in position to clear the table but missed a sharp cut on the 8 ball into the corner pocket.

“I really didn't expect her to miss it,” said Amit. “It took me a while before I could stand up because I had to process it first and just be composed. To have this opportunity where you're supposed to lose the set but then you're given this opportunity here and you're back and you have a chance to win this game. It is very uncharacteristic for her to miss to miss those kinds of shots.”

Amit was left with a straight long shot into the opposite corner pocket, which she rolled in, then pocketed the 9 ball to tie the set, 3-3. She then used a tight safety on the 1 ball in the deciding rack to force Chen into a foul and used ball-in-hand to run out and clinch the title, 4-3.

“I thought I played solid,” she said a couple of days after the event had concluded. “I would say that was my best in a tournament so far because it was because it was quite a draw.”

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Mast Makes History in Junior World Championships

Sofia Mast was at breakfast on the final day of the Junior World 10-Ball Championship when her coach and mentor Samm Diep's phone rang.

Mast was preparing for her title match against a familiar rival, fellow American Savannah Easton, in the final of the 19-under female division. She had come close in last year's event, losing in the finals to Xin-Yu Hong in Austria. Now she had worked herself into position again to earn her first junior championship against a competitor with whom she was very familiar.

Diep handed Mast the phone. On the other end was former world champion and Hall of Famer Allison Fisher. The two had spoken in the past, with Fisher offering breathing techniques and words of support.


Runnerup in 2023, Mast made the most of her ‛24 run.

“She's just always been nice to me and she's always warm and welcoming,” said Mast. “I just love talking to her with her accent.”

With the title match just hours away, the two engaged in a video chat.

“I'm nervous,” the 15-year-old admitted.

“That's what it all about,” Fisher responded. “That's why we do it. What you've got to do is mentally turn that into a feeling of excitement rather than nerves. Think about why you love the game and why you play. You do it for these moments. You're ready for it, okay? This is your time, honey.”

The impact of Fisher's call was clear, with Mast, slightly overwhelmed, nodding her head and wiping tears from her eyes.

The calming words paid off. Mast and Easton traded the first eight games, with Mast reaching the hill first, 5-4. But the Floridian missed her first shot at a match-ending 9 ball, allowing Easton to tie the race-to-six title match, 5-5. But the 14-year-old Las Vegan watched helplessly as her break in the decider yielded nothing. After a brief safety battle, Easton fouled and Mast found her way through the final rack to claim the Junior title.

In doing so, Mast became the first American female to win the junior world championship since Mary Rakin won her second title in 2007. Coincidentally, this was the first time that the World Junior Championship finals featured two Americans since Rakin won her first title in 2006 over Anna Kostanian.


Easton and Prassad (far left) joined Mast on the podium, along with a bevy of medalists in Hamilton.

“It's truly amazing,” said Mast. “I am so happy, and nothing could be any better than winning that.”

Mast fought back from the one-loss side after a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Linnea Hjalmarstrom of Sweden.

In the 19-under boys division, Mika van Berkel of the Netherlands defeated American Adrian Prasad of California, 7-3. It was Prassad's second consecutive Junior title match. He won silver in the 17-under division in 2023. Revo Maimre of Estonia defeated Walter Laikre of Sweden, 7-6 to earn the 17-under boys' title.

 

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