Doing it for dad
Keen Hoo wants Games gold to honour father
THE Kuala Lumpur SEA Games would have been extra special for national snooker ace Moh Keen Hoo if not for his father’s untimely demise.
Keen Hoo was looking forward to competing alongside his father Loon Hong at the biennial Games for the third time, having donned national colours together at Hanoi 2003 and Korat 2007.
But in January, his father – a two-time SEA Games gold medallist in English billiards – died of brain cancer. He was 61.
“It would have been a very special moment for us – father and son – to feature in the home SEA Games,” said the 30-year-old Keen Hoo, who took up snooker at the age of seven.
“I still remember vividly how we teamed up in 2003 for English billiards doubles. In 2007, we almost became champions together! I ended up winning the snooker singles while he combined with Roslan (Yurnalis) for silver in the billiards doubles.
“His last words to me were to ‘keep going, don’t give up and continue to strive for excellence in the sport we both love’.
“He never stopped inspiring and encouraging me until his last breath.
“So, I really want to win the gold for him. He was the reason I picked up the sport and became who I am today.”
Keen Hoo first made his presence felt when he triumphed in the 2005 Asian Under-21 Championship in Thailand. He was runner-up the year before in Kuala Lumpur.
Although the victory earned him a place in the 2005-06 World Tour, he only competed in four events before the Malaysian Snooker and Billiards Federation (MSBF) cut short his stint after he performed dismally at the 2005 Manila SEA Games.
Undeterred, Keen Hoo made up for the disap- pointment two years later when he beat homester Noppadol Sangnil for his maiden SEA Games gold in Korat, Thailand.
He then went into another slump and twice quit the national set-up between 2008 and 2013.
Again he worked on rediscovering his form. And when he did, he announced his return in style – equalling his late father’s two-gold feat by partnering Thor Chuan Leong to clinch the doubles title at the Singapore Games in 2015. (The late Loon Hong won the English Billiards gold at Manila 1991 and Chiang Mai 1995).
Three months later, Keen Hoo and Lim Kok Leong won Malaysia’s maiden World Amateur Team crown in Pakistan.
In 2016, he finished runner-up in the he Asian Six-Red Championship and was a semi-finalist in the World Six-Red Championship.
“These results have made me feel alive again,” said Keen Hoo, whose main target at the KL Games is to “defend the doubles title with Rory (Chuan Leong)”.
MSBF president Melvin Chia said Chuan Leong and Keen Hoo are Malaysia’s best bets to win the two golds they are targeting from snooker.
“As for billiards and pool, we are building for the future by fielding talented youngsters. Darryl Chia and Almie Yakup, both 17, are ranked fifth and ninth in world junior pool.
“We are getting them ready for the next SEA Games in the Philippines.”
Malaysia’s best achievement in snooker and billiards at the Games came in Chiang Mai in 1995 when Asian champions Sam Chong and Ooi Chin Kay led the team to a 6-3-3 medal haul.