Snooker players face same old, same old roadblocks
Sarawak improved on its overall performance at the National Snooker Championships when, for the first time, three players made it to the last 32 of the 2022 edition which ended in Kuala Lumpur last weekend.
Never mind that the trio were all eliminated in the battle for a place in the last 16.
Having three Sarawak players in the last 32 seemed like a bonus.
Nevertheless, former state champion Mark Yeo opined that it was nothing to shout about as their ultimate goal of breaking into the last 16 remains elusive.
“More work needs to be done to improve our standard so that we can truly break the last 16 jinx,” he lamented.
A total of 12 players from Sarawak played in the 31st national championships held from March 15 to 27.
Four of the 12 booked their tickets under the Sarawak Billiards and Snooker Sports Federation (SBSSF) after emerging as the top four at the recent State Closed Championships: champion Edmund Bond, runner-up Yu Hung Kai and the two losing semi-finalists Tan Chin Yong and Yeo.
The other eight players representing Swan City Recreation Club Sibu (SCRCS) bore their own expenses: Michael Yao, Ting Siew Chung, Ng Hong Man, Jee Chau Hui, Peter Liong, James Ting, Aaron Teo and Hardy Carlos.
Seven of the 12 were shown the exit in the first round, James and Michael lost in the second while Bong, Yeo and Hardy battled on until the last 32.
Bong then went down tamely 0-5 to Chooi Yew Wah while Yeo also found the going tough in losing 2-5 to Seikro Yeo.
Hardy nearly turned giant killer before bowing out to former SEA Games gold medalist Moh Keen Hoo 4-5 in an epic nine-set thriller.
To Yeo, who is also SCRCS president, the challenges facing Sarawak snooker players are very obvious and systemic.
“Ask any snooker player from Sarawak and they will tell you the same story. Sarawak does not have the facilities, the grassroots programme and the coach to guide the players, and achieving success is never easy,” he said.
As someone who has been instrumental in promoting the sport in the past two decades, he pointed out that there are so many tournaments and competitions for players to pick and choose in Peninsular Malaysia.
“Practice makes perfect and in games like snooker, one need constant practice so as to improve sharpness, agility and mental strength,” he explained and added that Sarawak lack tournaments save for the few competitions conducted by SCRCS.
He also wonders how many more years it will take before a Sarawakian can push through to the last 16 and beyond.
“We are merely talking about qualifying for the last 16. Thinking about lifting the national title with the current batch of players is mere building castles in the air,” he suggested an answer.
Since the sport was introduced in Sarawak six decades ago, Yeo revealed, snooker players in the state have never enjoyed the benefit of training under a coach.
This leaves almost all the local players to train on their own and learn their own style of play.
“All the other sports in Sarawak, they have a coach or even several coaches … with the exception of snooker. It will be a dream come true for the snooker players if they can one day train under a qualified coach.
“Of course, without a coach, we just cannot talk about producing results,” he concluded sadly.