Chezka Centeno

Chezka Centeno (born June 30, 1999) is a Filipina professional pool player from Zamboanga City. In 2023, Centeno claimed her biggest career win after she defeated multiple WPA World Nine-ball Champion Han Yu of China, 9–5, to win the Predator WPA women's World Ten-ball Championship.

Early life
Chezka was born to Fausto Albert and Josephine Centeno in 1999 and is the sixth of seven children. She started playing billiards at five years old and her potential was discovered at age eight when she played in local tournaments in the family's hometown.

Career
At the age of 11, she entered the Philippine National Games and finished third. When she was 12, she was invited to the Kremlin Cup in Russia and finished in the top 32. After being recruited into the national team, Chezka participated at the 2014 Asian Junior Championship and won 1st place under the girls' single category.

She later won the nine-ball women's single at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, facing fellow Filipina Rubilen Amit in the final.

In 2016, Centeno participated in the Chinese Eight-ball World Championship in China, together with Rubilen Amit and Iris Ranola. Centeno won the inaguaral 2022 Asian Pool Federation Women's Nine-ball Championship after defeating Seo Seoa of South Korea in the final, 11-7, held at the Aspire Recreation Centre in Singapore.

In 2023, Centeno defeated three-time women's WPA World Nine-ball Champion Han Yu of China for the WPA World Ten-Ball women's championship title at the Sportpark Klagenfurt in Klagenfurt, Austria. Drawing a first-round bye, Centeno met former world champion Pan Xiaoting of China in her opening match and secured a 7–4 win. She then faced BCA Hall-of-Famer Allison Fisher in the winner's qualification round match-up and won with a score of 7–3. In the round of 16, she won with a 9–0 whitewash against Melanie Sussenguth of Germany. As the tournament progressed, she continued her strong performance with a 9-2 victory in the quarterfinals against defending world nine-ball and world ten-ball women's champion Chou Chieh-Yu of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan). In the semifinal rematch against Allison Fisher, Centeno fought her way back from being 8–4 down to achieve a 9–8 comeback win, setting up a final match against Yu.

Centeno is the second Filipina women's world champion in pool after Rubilen Amit who won the WPA event in 2009 and 2013. Centeno won the 2023 top prize of $50,000 (2.8m PHP), the biggest price in women's pool history.

In 2024, Centeno won the Predator Pro Billiards Series Las Vegas Ten-ball Women's Open and earned $18,000(P1 million) after defeating Chen Siming of China in two sets (4-2 and 4-2) at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in the United States.

Titles

 * 2024 Pro Billiard Series Las Vegas Women's Open
 * 2023 WPA World Ten-ball Championship
 * 2022 APF Asian Women's Nine-ball Open
 * 2019 Southeast Asian Games Ten-ball Singles
 * 2019 Southeast Asian Games Nine-ball Doubles
 * 2018 The Perfect Storm Open Women's Division
 * 2017 Southeast Asian Games Nine-ball Singles
 * 2016 Chinook Winds Open Ten-ball Women's Division
 * 2016 WPA Amway Cup Nine-ball World Open
 * 2015 Southeast Asian Games Nine-ball Singles
 * 2015 WPA World Nine-ball Junior championship
 * 2016 Chinook Winds Open Ten-ball Women's Division
 * 2016 WPA Amway Cup Nine-ball World Open
 * 2015 Southeast Asian Games Nine-ball Singles
 * 2015 WPA World Nine-ball Junior championship