Locals make early exit in 9-ball event<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Despite hope of a much-needed home advantage, all four local
\nentries lost on Friday in the second stop of the San Miguel Asian
\n9-ball Tour.<\/p>\n
In the first round, Yudarman Kamaruddin gave his best but was
\nedged 7-9 by Chao Fong Fang, the 1993 World 9-ball champion,
\nwhile compatriots Robby Suarly, Muhammad Zulfikri and Muhamad
\nJunarto made it past the first hurdle.<\/p>\n
Robby defeated Nguyen Than Nam of Vietnam 9-6, Zulfikri
\ndispatched Ibrahim Bin Amir of Malaysia 9-6 and Junarto won 9-7
\nover Manan Chandra of India.<\/p>\n
Despite Yudarman's loss, Indonesian Billiards and Snooker
\nAssociation (POBSI) chairman Putera Astaman praised his effort.<\/p>\n
\"He played well as he could tie Chao 7-7 before finally losing
\n7-9. Yudarman lost with honor,\" Putera said.<\/p>\n
In the second round, Junarto lost 5-9 to Yang Chin-Shun of
\nChinese Taipei, Zulfikri was defeated 8-9 by Singaporean Toh
\nLian-Han and Robby surrendered 8-9 to the Efren Reyes, the
\nthree-time 8-ball champion from the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Yang easily took an 8-2 lead against Junarto, before the
\nlatter closed the gap to 8-5. Yang then overcame his nerves to
\nwin.<\/p>\n
In an error-filled, seesaw contest, Toh raced to a 6-2 lead,
\nbut suddenly lost his rhythm and allowed Zulfikri to catch him at
\n5-6.<\/p>\n
Zulfikri failed in a golden opportunity to put the third ball
\nin during frame 12, thus giving Toh a chance to pull away 7-5.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian made another blunder in frame 13 by pocketing
\nthe white ball.<\/p>\n
But Zulfikri refused to go meekly and gained the advantage
\nwhen Toh also erred by pocketed the white ball in frame 14.<\/p>\n
Toh seemed poised to win in frame 15, but somehow missed a
\ngimme shot, with the eight ball smack in front of the hole.<\/p>\n
Zulfikri took the chance to reach 7-8, and then leveled. The
\nend was anticlimactic after the Zulkifri fightback, as the local
\nplayer missed his first shot and set up a simple putaway for Toh
\nwith the nine ball.<\/p>\n
\"In the last frame, I just didn't see that the nine ball was
\nin front of the first ball, I was too nervous,\" Zulfikri said.<\/p>\n
Toh said Zulfikri played well and he thought the contest was
\nover following his mistake in frame 15.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Robby, despite holding an 8-7 lead against Reyes,
\ncould not seal victory.<\/p>\n
In other second round matches, Kuo Po-Cheng of Chinese Taipei
\nsent home Alok Kumar of India 9-4, Wanshana Poomjaeng defeated Xu
\nMeng of China 9-5, teenage wonder boy Wu Chia-Ching of Chinese
\nTaipei thrashed Pang 9-5, Satoshi Kawabata of Japan beat Li He-
\nWen and Singapore first leg champion Gandy Valle of the
\nPhilippines eked out a 9-8 win over compatriot Francisco
\nBustamante.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, it will be Reyes versus Kuo, Poomjaeng against
\nWu, Toh taking on Kawabata and Yang facing Valle, with matches
\nstarting at 10 a.m. at the Hanggar Billiard on Jl. Gatot
\nSoebroto, Central Jakarta.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/locals-make-early-exit-in-9-ball-event-1447893297",
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