Win or lose, local players seek experience at Bali Open

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Kuta, Bali

The 20 local players who advanced on Tuesday to the main draw of the A Mild Billiard Bali International Open are hoping for the chance to learn a few tricks from some of the sport's top names.

Among those coming through the two-day qualifying to the 96- player main draw were women players Desak Raka of Bali and Angeline Magdalena Ticoalu of Jakarta.

Desak said she was glad to make it through even though she knew her chances of progressing further were slim.

"All those in the main draw are very good players. Playing against them will be a great experience for me," Desak said during a break from her practice session at Paradiso Bowling and Billiard Center in Kuta, Bali.

Deddy Handoko of Yogyakarta, who also qualified by defeating Luken of Jakarta 7-3 and Bronson of Singapore 7-6, agreed with Desak that it was a rare opportunity.

"I hope to meet one of the world class players tomorrow. I might lose to them as their skills are much better than mine but I will learn a lot from playing against them."

The remaining nine places in the draw were taken by Singaporean players (four), Vietnamese (four) and one Malaysian.

A total of 67 players, including 32 competing in the San Miguel Asian 9-ball tour, top 10 national players and two Balinese players receiving wild cards, automatically qualified for the main draw.

Among them are three-time 1World 8-ball champion Efren Reyes of the Philippines, who won the San Miguel 9-ball tourney in Jakarta last weekend; the 2002 World Pool champion Mika Immonen of Finland; 1998 World 9-ball champion Kunihiko Takahashi of Japan and 2004 World 9-ball champion Chao Fong-Pang of Chinese Taipei.

Main draw competition will begin on Wednesday.