Four Sabahan players through to next round

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s Muhd Almie Muhd Yakup lived up to his billing to go through to the next round of the Borneo Open 10-Ball Pool Championship, while defending champion Teo Chee Soon suffered an early exit.

The six-day competition at the Sheffield Snooker and Billiards Training Centre in Inanam started on Tuesday and Almie who is ranked number two in Sabah, came through from Group D to secure a spot in the round of last 32, yesterday.

Three other Sabahan players Arbaid Jaalin, Sam Loh and Yung are also through after finishing top two in their respective groups.

Dominic Ting from Sarawak along with Md Alias and Md Khairuddin from Brunei are also among those who will vie for a spot in the final 16.

Meanwhile, Teo, who took the champion’s title last year failed to get past the group stage. The Bruneian was ousted by Tan Den Jie from Kuala Lumpur.

Other matches were played late last night to complete the final list of last 32 players but results were not available at press time.

A total of 64 players from Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia are competing in the tournament organised by Sabah Snooker and Billiards Association.

The tournament offers attractive cash prizes including RM5,000 for the champion, RM2,000 for the runner-up and RM900 for semifinalists. Losing quarterfinalists will receive RM500, while losers in the round of last 16 will walk away with RM300 each.