Cool Taufiq on fire, eyes third and fourth gold

A RUN of five consecutive racks helped Brunei-Muara's Ahmad Taufiq Murni to a win in the finals of the inaugural 10-ball singles event at the 9th National Sports Festival (PSK) yesterday.

Ahmad Taufiq was awarded the gold after his 8-4 triumph over Tutong's Md Alias Hj Rashid who took the first rack at the Billiards and Snooker Hall of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas.

The 21-year-old Ahmad Taufiq however equalised straight away and went on to win the next rack to take a 2-1 lead, and eventhough Md Alias would get right back at 2-2, there was nothing he could do when his opponent ran through the next five racks to take a commanding 7-2 advantage.

Md Alias would claw back to a 7-4 deficit but a lost opportunity to pocket a ball in the 12th rack, allowed Ahmad Taufiq to finish the match.

Champion of the 8-ball singles last Sunday, Ahmad Taufiq can make it a hat-trick of titles if he wins the 9-ball singles on Thursday.

He can make it four if his partnership with Ak Md Saiful Azri Pg Roslee in the 9-ball doubles is successful on Friday.

"I got a good feeling when I was up 4-2. A confident feeling," said Ahmad Taufiq after the match.

"I wasn't scared when he won those two racks at the end because after he missed on the break I knew I could win it," he added.

Emotionless for most of the match, Ahmad Taufiq finally broke a smile half-way through the eighth rack when his friend managed to get out of a tight situation but left an open ball.

"I don't know," said Ahmad Taufiq of his lack of emotion. "I was playing in the quarter-finals since 11 today (Tuesday) morning and I was kind of tired so maybe that's why," he said.

Going for power instead of precision didn't always work out for Md Alias.

Playing second fiddle to Ahmad Taufiq in terms of positioning, his poor breaks - which ironically lacked in power - also let him down after he failed to pocket a ball during at least two instances.

Trailing 4-2, he could have cut the deficit in the seventh rack but missed the 9-ball.

That led Ahmad Taufiq back to the table, and though he would miss it too, Alias would fail to hit a banked shot which cost him the rack.

Ahmad Taufiq had a knack for putting his opponent into sticky spots with his safety play.

An immaculate placer of the cue ball, Ahmad Taufiq grew more relaxed as the game progressed - probably since he knew he had it in the bag.

Alias started to look defeated just before it became 7-2 but the turning point came in the 10th rack when both Alias and Ahmad Taufiq missed the 10-ball to draw gasps of surprise from the crowd.

Alias would pocket it after the second time to cut the scores to 7-3, and after Ahmad Taufiq had a shaky start to the 11th rack, Md Alias closed the gap again at 7-4.

However, the table denied him a shot in the 13th rack when he broke and Ahmad Taufiq didn't need to be asked twice whether he wanted to finish the game off.

Ahmad Taufiq advanced to the final after beating Temburong's Musaddad Hj Ali 8-4 while Md Alias booked his berth after disposing of Brunei-Muara's Ak Md Saiful Azri 8-5.

Ak Md Saiful Azri beat Musaddad 8-4 to take bronze.

Brunei-Muara are the defending champions for the sport after capturing two gold, two silver and two bronze medals in 2008.

The Brunei Times