Brunei-Muara on cue to defend title

BRUNEI-MUARA are on track to defend their title in cue sports after Ahmad Taufiq Murni and Ak Md Saiful Azri Pg Roslee achieved victory yesterday to pocket gold and bronze respectively.

Ahmad Taufiq lifted gold when he triumphed over Tutong's Teo Chee Soon 7-1 in the final of the 9th National Sports Festival (PSK) 8-ball event at the Billiards and Snooker Hall of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas.

Teo claimed the first point by capitalising on Ahmad Taufiq's mistake to put the 21-year-old on the back foot.

However Taufiq responded in the second rack in which Teo did not even have the chance to lift a finger to level the scoreline.

From then on the match was fully in Ahmad Taufiq's favour all the way into the eighth rack, which saw Teo commit his final act by failing to pocket on his break.

All the pieces were then in place for Ahmad Taufiq to claim an almost perfect victory over the national cueist.

"I think I did really well today," said Ahmad Taufiq, who also captured the 2010 Brunei National 8-Ball Pool Tournament crown in May.

"After leading 4-1, I was confident that it was going to be my win. Now I'll turn my focus on the other events as I'm aiming for gold in all of them," he added.

Ahmad Taufiq is competing in a total of four events, the next being the 10-ball tournament which starts today.

The 10-ball event would provide him with an opportunity to exact revenge over Teo who defeated him 8-5 in the final of the 2010 Brunei National 10-Ball Pool Tournament on June 4.

Meanwhile Brunei-Muara compatriot Ak Md Saiful Azri barely survived a late comeback by Md Alias Hj Rashid to pocket bronze with a 7-6 scoreline.

In the 10th rack, Ak Md Saiful Azri was already on the verge of notching the bronze medal with a comfortable three-point lead at 6-3.

But Md Alias was far from done, as he staged a comeback to level the scores at 6-6 to bring the match to a nerve-wrecking finish.

With only the 6-ball and 8-ball left, it looked like Ak Md Saiful Azri had surrendered the match after failing to pocket an angled shot.

Md Alias however failed to take advantage, as he was denied by the bank when he aimed the 10-ball towards the side pocket.

The cue ball subsequently fell in place for Ak Md Saiful Azri to easily sink the remaining two balls into the corner pockets for the win.

The Brunei Times