By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Veterans Chezka Centeno and Jeff De Luna are set to represent the country in the 2025 Mixed Doubles Open in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Sept. 17 to 19.
The two are the only PH representative in the 32-team field of the 10-ball tournament, which stakes a total purse of $100,000 (around P5.7 million).
The champion will take home $40,000 (around P2.2 million).
Centeno and De Luna are expected to ride the momentum of their title victory at the 2025 Mixed Doubles Open-PBC Indonesia in Jakarta last July, where they beat Estonia’s Denis Grabe and Germany’s Pia Filler for the crown. The duo went home with the $30,000 (P1.7 million) top prize.
Filler is expected to compete in the tournament with husband and world champion, Joshua.
Other notable pairs listed in the event are Chinese Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi and Wei Tzu Chien, Austrian Albin and Jasmin Ouschan, Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp and Indonesia’s Silviana Lu, Fedor Gorst and Kristina Tkach, and Greece’s Alex Kazakis and England’s Kelly Fisher, to name a few.
Centeno is also coming off a silver medal finish in the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China last month.
De Luna, for his part, boasts of a wide experience, having made it to the semifinals of the 2019 US Open 9-ball Championships and clinching a silver medal in the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
