Local players shoot for surprises in 9-ball event
Local players shoot for surprises in 9-ball event
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With marquee names such as Efren Reyes of the Philippines and
Chao Fong Pang of Chinese Taipei here for the second leg of the
2005 San Miguel Asian 9-ball Tour, local players will have to
draw on their hometown advantage to provide surprises.
"At home, I expect our players will kick you (foreign players)
out of the tournament and win the title," Indonesian Billiards
and Snooker Association (POBBI) chairman Putera Astaman said on
Thursday during the announcement of the draw.
The US$200,000 tournament has four legs: Singapore (March 4-
6), Jakarta (April 1-3), Kaohsiung, Taiwan (April 29-May 1) and
Manila (June 3-5).
For the opening leg, Indonesia sent Muhammad Junarto and
Yudarman Kamaruddin, but they lost in early rounds. Filipino
Gandy Valle won the $10,000 top prize.
Four local players -- Junarto, Yudarman and wild cards
Muhammad Zulfikri and Robby Suarly -- will compete in Jakarta.
Among first round matchups, Yudarman has potentially the most
difficult contest against Chao Fong Fang, the 1993 World 9-ball
champion.
Junarto meets Manan Chandra of India, Zulfikri will face
Ibrahim bin Amir of Malaysia and Robby squares off against Nguyen
Than Nam.
Robby said Yudarman was particularly unlucky in his draw.
"The other draws are OK, including my game against the
Vietnamese as I defeated him in the Bali International Open three
years ago."
If Robby comes through his first round contest, he is likely
to meet Reyes, the 1995, 1996 and 2000 World 8-ball champion.
"Looking at the draw, it will be a great achievement for me if
I can beat Reyes."
However, the Filipino does not underestimate his first-round
foe, Japanese number one Kunihiko Takahashi.
"We have met each other many times, so I know that it will be
difficult for both of us," Reyes said.
However, he said he wanted to win the second leg of the
tournament as he already lost the first leg in Singapore.
"I like to play and win here as I have many fans and media
supporting me," he said.
Friday's games at Hanggar Billiard on Jl. Gatot Soebroto,
South Jakarta, will start at 10:30 a.m., with live coverage on
Star Sports cable station from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The game of 9-ball is a rotation game in which a player must
hit the lowest numbered ball first. The object of the game is to
pocket the 9-ball on any legal shot.