Brunei can only look back and take positives out of their campaign at the 5th Golden Break 9-Ball Invitational Championship 2013.
The Sultanate's campaign came to an end on Thurday after the duo of Ahmad Taufiq Murni and Hj Md Alirani Hj Besar (pic) were ousted in the last-32.
Taufiq lost 9-2 to Fu Che Wei of Chinese-Taipei, who is ranked fourth in the Asian Pool Billiard Union (APBU), at the Kuchai Avenue in Kuala Lumpur.
Hj Md Alirani, meanwhile, fell 9-3 to Ha Minuk of South Korea.
Taufiq was disappointed that he didn't manage to repeat the feat of qualifying for the last-16, as he did in the previous two editions. But he is looking to work harder and bounce back stronger.
"My game yesterday (Thursday) was bad as I lost control of it. Overall, in the tournament I started out alright but it all went wrong midway after losing to Patrick Ooi (in the group stage)," said Taufiq in an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.
"My plan now is to train harder and hopefully go for another competition soon. I need more sparring because I feel I lack that," he added.
"I need to play more games to get my competitive rhythm going. Overall my performance was not good, I admit that," continued the 24-year-old.
Hj Md Alirani didn't expect too much and knows that there is plenty of work left to be done.
"I managed to get two break clears at the beginning but in the middle of the match I made a few mistakes that cost me the game (against Ha)," said Hj Md Alirani.
"But overall I'm satisfied with my performance for this trip. I didn't give myself a target and never expected to be in the top-32. I just wanted to make sure I gave a good fight against my opponents," he added.
"I've learnt a lot from this trip. I know I have to practice more often. The players from other countries especially the Filipinos have 8-10 hour trainings per day. To beat them I will need to practice more," continued Hj Md Alirani.
The duo of Mohd Qusyairi Zainuddin and Pg Anak Hj Abdul Awadi ZH Pg Anak Hj Latifuddin were the other two selected by the Brunei Cue Sports Association (BCSA) and both fell in the group stages.
This is the third edition for Mohd Qusyairi and he is keeping his head high despite a disappointing outing.
"I just couldn't play to my own game and lost mostly on my skills. There are a lot of things that I need to improve on," said Qusyairi.
"I hope I can cope with the new skills and the experience that I got from the tournament for future use. I also got some tips from top players here especially from the pros like Jeff de Luna of the Philippines. I learned a lot from him," he added.
"There are still a lot of tournaments in the future and I hope we get more chances and support because we love the game and want to be the best," he said.
Shaiful Bahani Hj Abd Rahman, Lim Wei Kok, Mohd Alias Hj Rashid, Lim Charng Hui, Bakhytar Zaini, Jong Wee Lee and Kamarul Ariffin Hj Kamis were the other Bruneians at the August 17-24 tournament.
