Billiard body to choose 14 players for SEA Games

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's snooker coach Hendro T. Nuraji said the Indonesian Billiard and Snooker Association (POBSI) was ready to select 14 of 20 players for preparations for the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Hendro said on Wednesday the national team, to compete in the biennial event in Brunei Darussalam from Aug. 7 to Aug. 15, will comprise three players in the snooker event, three players in the English billiard event, four players in the nine-ball event and another four in the 15-ball event. Announcement of the 14 players is scheduled for June 4.

"In the snooker event, Rudi Sulaeman has been training in Australia at his own expense for several months. Other candidates are Sayumin, Peng K Sen, Bernhard and Hek Ta," he said at the billiard training center in Ciracas, Tangerang.

Brunei, which will host the Games for the first time, will not feature all billiard events, unlike the Indonesian hosting of the 1997 SEA Games.

Indonesia will miss opportunities to win gold from carome events as they will not be featured at the event.

"We had a big chance to win gold in the carome because Vietnam is our only strong opponent," Hendro told Antara.

"If we could compete in carome, we could win two golds as promised by POBSI chairman, Putera Astaman, earlier."

Due to limited finances, POBSI is yet to announce any plans to send players for tryouts abroad. Indonesia made a clean sweep of 12 golds in the 1997 SEA Games here. (yan)