Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
NATIONAL cueist Ahmad Taufiq Murni finished runner-up at the 9-Ball Empire Grand Opening Tournament in Kuching, Sarawak on Monday.
Brunei's top cueist fell 10-6 to Rico Herman of Indonesia in the final to walk away with a cash prize of RM2,000 and a trophy.
Taufiq began his campaign with back-to-back 6-1 wins over Chris and Benny Lim in the qualifying rounds.
He continued his good form with a 6-2 victory over Frankie Lim before dispatching Dominic Ting 6-4 to advance to the last-16.
Taufiq advanced to the quarter-finals after triumphing 7-2 against Singapore's Clement Lim.
He took down another Singaporean Hairul BMS 8-3 before winning his seventh consecutive match of the competition by taking down Indonesia's Yensen 9-4 to advance to the title decider.
Meanwhile, Muhd Azim Abu Bakar was stopped in his tracks in the quarters after losing 8-4 to Rico.
He took home RM250 and a medal for his efforts.
Ak Abd Aziz Pg Haslini was the other Bruneian at the June 21-24 event and his campaign ended in the last-32.
The four-day competition attracted a total 64 participants from Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Kalimantan) and Singapore.
