Cue the music, Tutong champs

TUTONG emerged the overall champion of cue sports after the duo of Teo Chee Soon and Md Alias Hj Rashid bested the Brunei-Muara pair of Ahmad Taufiq Murni and Ak Md Saiful Azri Pg Roslee 9-4 in the final of the 9-ball doubles event at the Billiards and Snooker Hall of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas.

Tutong jumped out to an early 3-1 lead but a clearout by Ak Md Saiful Azri pulled Brunei-Muara within 3-2 a the end of the fifth rack.

Ahmad Taufiq would clear rack eight on the break but Md Alias would reply with a run out in nine bringing the scores to 6-3.

Rack 11 provided plenty of entertainment with creative ball placing.

Both teams would play cautiously to try and outplay each other on safety plays, hoping their opponents would make a mistake but Teo would make a superb jump ball for the two ball in the mid pocket to clear for a 7-3 advantage.

Luck was clearly not on Brunei-Muara's side with a dry break in rack 12 that saw Tutong notch up the next two racks for the victory.

"We just had a good feeling today (Friday). Everything went smoothly from safety plays to placing and we had the confidence that we could pick up the gold since we played with great rhythm in our earlier games," said Teo, in an interview with The Brunei Times, after the triumph.

Md Alias couldn't have agreed more on their partnership after the duo captured gold in the 10-ball doubles earlier in the week.

"We didn't need to train together but we just knew how each other plays. We enjoyed the game and supported each other as we continued to play more games," said Md Alias.

Third place was bagged by the duo of Pg Anak Badiodzaman Bin Pg Anak Dato Laila Utama Hj Chuchu and Ali Hj Karim of Temburong with a hard-fought 9-7 win over the pair of Muhaimin Azim and Md Fadzillah of the Institutes of Higher Education (IPT).

Present to give away the prizes to the winners of all the events contested over the week was Major General Hj Aminuddin Ihsan Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Hj Abidin, the Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces.

The Brunei Times