Brunei's cueist Ahmad Taufiq in
8 balls. Taufiq suffered a late
scare but is through to the
top-32 of the 5th Golden Break
9-Ball Invitational
Championship 2013 in Kuala
Lumpur. Picture: Courtesy of
Shoukry DPDH Mat Suny
Ahmad Taufiq Murni suffered a late scare but is through to the top-32 of the 5th Golden Break 9-Ball Invitational Championship 2013 at the Kuchai Avenue in Kuala Lumpur.
The country's best cueist will meet Fu Che Wei in today's last-32, the Chinese Taipei player ranked fourth on the Asian Pool Billiard Union table. Taufiq opened his campaign with an easy 9-1 victory over Singapore's Steve Fong on Tuesday night but he was stunned 9-0 by Patrick Ooi of Malaysia in his next match and dropped to the loser's bracket.
The 24-year-old then bounced back for a 9-7 win over Korea's Lee Wansu to ensure his passage to the next round.
Taufiq started out strongly to take a 5-0 lead and kept the momentum going for an 8-3 advantage in the race-to-9 match.
Lee, who beat Brunei's Shaiful Bahani Hj Abd Rahman 9-6 to end his tournament, fought back and claimed the next four frames to close in to within one before Taufiq sealed the game. "I lost all my rhythm (against Ooi). Maybe because I had to wait for a couple of hours after winning my first game," said Taufiq in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.
When asked on what was going through his head after losing to Ooi, Taufiq replied: "I wanted to get to the top-32 and I was only one match away from it (in the loser's bracket). That was the only thing on my mind.
"I started out well and I went on the attack all the way after getting the lead (against Lee). I didn't think twice.
"As for the top-32, I'm going to play my own game," continued Taufiq, whose decider against Lee ended at 4.30 yesterday morning.
Hj Md Alirani Hj Besar is the only other Bruneian in the last-32 after he defeated Thailand's Tanut Makkamontee 9-5 on Monday, the Thai the winner of his country's National 9-Ball C'hip in June.
Hj Md Alirani will play South Korea's Ha Minuk in today's last-16. Hj Md Alirani started his campaign with a 9-6 win over Malaysia's David Ong before falling 9-4 to Tanut in their first meeting. He then beat Benjin Ong of Singapore 9-1 in the loser's bracket followed by a 9-5 win over Yandi Tan of Indonesia.
Two Bruneians, Jong Wee Lee and Kamarul Ariffin Hj Kamis, lost in the second round (round-of-64) yesterday.
Jong beat India's Rafath Habib 9-8 in his opener. He then lost 9-3 to Malaysia's Alan Tan and was relegated to the loser's bracket.
Jong bounced back with a 9-8 victory over Hamasaki Toshihide of Japan before dropping 9-4 to Singapore's John Lim bringing his campaign to an end.
Kamarul Ariffin was dumped out after he lost 9-8 to Alan Ang of Malaysia before succumbing to a 9-7 defeat to Singapore's Bala Subramaniam.
Five other Bruneians were eliminated on Monday; Mohd Alias Hj Rashid, Lim Charng Hui, Mohd Qusyairi Zainuddin, Pg Anak Hj Abdul Awadi ZH Pg Anak Hj Latifuddin and Bakthyar Zaini.
