Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
AHMAD Taufiq Murni put up a strong showing at the Borneo 9-Ball International Open Series 2 in Indonesia last week.
The national cueist recorded a top-eight finish at the Bacoot Pool & Cafe in Pontianak.
He began his campaign at the April 22-27 competition with a nail-biting 7-6 win over Iwan Djie in the qualifiers.
He then slipped to the loser's column after falling 7-3 to Filipino Jundel.
Taufiq then bounced back with a 7-3 win over Winoto to secure a space in the tournament proper.
The 33-year-old edged Md Bewi 8-7 and took down defending champion and Indonesia No 3 Rizky Esbe 8-4 to advance to the last-32.
Taufiq then took care of business against Eric Yo with a 9-4 victory and progressed to the quarter-finals after dispatching Abby Robin 9-6.
His campaign came to an end as Indonesia No 4 Irwanto Labewa ran away with a 10-2 triumph.
National cue sports coach Lim Tat Hwe was delighted with the results.
"It was a great improvement in terms of results where he finished in the last-32 in the previous edition," said Lim in an interview with BruSports News.
"This time he managed to reach the quarters and finished in fifth place out of 112 players.
"Eventhough it was a 'Borneo' tournament, it was still at a high level with world class players," he concluded.
Indonesia's top cueist Feri Satriyadi was crowned the champion after defeating Rico Herman 10-8 in the final.
