Brunei cueists participated in the highly-prestigious Indonesia International Open 2024 in Jakarta, Indonesia recently.
The country’s leading athlete and biggest hope Ahmad Taufiq bin Murni fell in the first hurdle after a 8-6 defeat to Indonesia’s Gebby Adi in the loser’s round.
Considered by many to make a strong showing, the Southeast Asian Games representative started the campaign with a 8-5 loss by Indonesia’s Fery Satriadi.
Brunei’s Awangku Aziz bin Pengiran Haslini was defeated 8-1 by Philippines’s Marvin Asis in the opening group match before ending his stint following a 2-8 loss to Asia’s countryman Bryant Godoy.
Joining the Brunei contingent was Md Qusyair who won once in a 8-4 victory over Maldivian number two player Md Shareef.
The Bruneian faltered to a 3-8 defeat to Japanese Agata Yasuhiro in his first match but went on a deepest run out of the Bruneian entrants.
His journey came to an end in his third match after a 8-3 loss to Philippines’s A J Manas.
Meanwhile, Ben Rahman lost to Taiwan’s Jui-an Hsu 8-5 and exited the competition after being edged 7-8 by Oman’s Hamza Al Awaidi.
Philippines’ world renowned player Jeffrey Ignacio was crowned champion after beating Hong Kong’s Robbie Capito 10-3 in the final.
Dubbed as the biggest world class event in Indonesia, the tournament attracted top draw of players including the likes of Carlo Biado, Jeffrey De Luna and Ko Ping Chung.
The six-day long tournament was sanctioned by the world governing body for pool World Pool-Billiard Association. – Fadhil Yunus
