Players ‘have a lot of work to do’ to break last-32 barrier — Yeo
SIBU: Six players are representing Sarawak at the 30th National Snooker Championship at WM Snooker in Kuala Lumpur from today until Dec 29.
They are Hardy Carlos, Tan Chin Yong, Edmund Bong and Mark Yeo, Aaron Teo and Hussein Onn.
With the exception of Teo and Hussein, the rest are the semifinalists of the Sarawak Closed Snooker Championship held in Kuching early this year.
Teo and Hussein are paying their own expenses for the trip while others are sponsored by Sarawak Billiards and Snooker Sports Federation (SBSSF).
Meanwhile, Sarawakian players have never progressed past the last 32 of the championship due to the big gap of standard here compared to their West Malaysian counterparts.
Yeo admi ed there are still lots of work to be done if any local player ever think about advancing to the last 16.
He himself had qualified for the last 32 on two occasions previously but that was the furthest he could advance.
He said it would be a bonus if any of them qualify for the last 32 in the tournament that also features elite players from all over the country, including the Philippines SEA Games men’s double gold medallists Moh Keen Ho and Lim Kok Leong and another national player Thor Chuan Leong.
“Our whole objective is to use the venue as a platform to gauge our standard,” he added.
Meanwhile, Hardy said he would be making his debut in the national meet and naturally, he was raring to go for the event.
“I will try my best to achieve a breakthrough for myself at the championship,” he added.
The prestigious tournament offers a prize money of RM6,000 for the champion, RM3,000 for the first runner-up, semi-finalists RM1,000, quarter-finalists RM400 and the last 16 will also get RM200. An additional carrot is the RM1,000 prize money for a century break.