Team Philippines failed in its bid to defend its 2023 WPA Predator World Teams Championship after getting eliminated in the group stage at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday, Nov. 10 (Saturday in Manila).

The Filipino cue artists bowed to Team Spain, 3-2, in the critical match to make an exit in this $300,000 10-ball event after absorbing their second defeat in three matches.

Reigning world women’s 10-ball champion Chezka Centeno filled in the spot of Rubilen Amit this time and outclassed Mayte Ropero in the first singles match before Carlo Biado succumbed to Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, 4-2.

Roland Garcia downed David Alcaide Bermudez, 4-2, to keep the ball alive for the Filipinos but Biado couldn’t muster enough strength to close out his games as he succumbed in the last two critical matches to Sanchez and Alcaide with 4-3 and 4-2 scores.

It was a painful defeat for the Filipinos, who were aiming to become the first back-to-back champion in this tournament.

A victory for Team PH could have earned them a berth in the knockout quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, Garcia couldn’t sustain his hot performance in the team event as he failed to claim the Puerto Rico Men’s 10-Ball Open title held on the same day.

Garcia yielded to Poland’s Konrad Juszczyszyn, 2-0, to settle for the runner-up honors.

Prior to his championship defeat, Garcia blasted Germany’s Joshua Filler, 2-0, and Austria’s Mario He, 2-0, in the quarters and semis.

Biado, for his part, fell short in defending his crown after getting eliminated in the Last 16 at the expense of Fedor Gorst, 2-0.

Centeno and Amit, meanwhile, remain in contention in the distaff side after clobbering Korean Seo Seoa and Japanese Yuki Hiraguchi with identical 2-0 scores in the Last 16.

Centeno currently competes for a spot in the semis against Austrian Jasmin Ouschan, while Amit is facing Chinese Taipei’s Wi Tzu-Chien.

The 24-year-old Centeno had to thread through the eye of the needle to make it to the knockout stage, downing American Julie Madlener (2-0), Margaret Fefilova (2-1) and German Pia Filler (2-0), to reach the Last 16.

However, victories for Amit and Centeno in their respective quarters matches would set them up a semis meeting against each other.