Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
IT WAS a bittersweet outing for our national cueists Ahmad Taufiq Murni and Abdul Waie Hafiy at the APF Asian 9-Ball Open in Singapore.
After more than two years of inaction, both cueists were eliminated in the early stages of the August 24-28 competition.
Taufiq received a bye in the opening round and fell 9-3 to Vietnamese Nguyen Phuong Thao.
He was then eliminated from the competition after losing 9-6 to another Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Phong in the losers’ bracket.
On the other hand, Waie also received a bye in the first round and succumbed to a 9-2 defeat at the hands of Filipino Anthony “The Dragon” Raga in his debut.
The 25-year-old saw his campaign come to an end after dropping 9-3 to Singapore’s Lee Han Qiang.
Despite the defeats, Brunei’s top cueist Taufiq was just glad to be back in competition.
“I was very excited to be back to compete at the highest level after more than two years due to the pandemic,” said Taufiq in an interview with BruSports News on Saturday.
“It wasn’t easy because the feeling is different from before and my performance was definitely below par.
“I was struggling but I will look to get my game back with more competitions and game time. I will also need to improve on my mental toughness once again,” he added.
Meanwhile, Waie will savour the experience in this first ever international outing.
“I felt a lot of pressure since this is my first exposure playing outside of Brunei but it is nice to finally see world class players playing live in front of me. It felt like a dream come true,” said Waie.
“It was daunting at first because I know these players have more experience as well as skills and some are those who I only get to watch on TV and YouTube.
“I also feel honoured to be given such a big opportunity despite only started to play competitively about 2-3 years ago,” he added.
When asked on what was his biggest takeaway from the competition, Waie replied: “I learnt a lot just by observing the pro players and also on the way they think on what to do under pressure and stay composed.
“I will refine my skills and hopefully more opportunities will rise for me in hopes of getting Brunei recognition for its pool players,” concluded Waie.
Next stop for the national cueists is the Miri Invitational 10-Ball happening next weekend and they are also eyeing the Philippine Open in October.
