SIBU: All the seeded players cruised through comfortably at the 2014 Sarawak Closed Snooker Championship which started at Executive 3 Snooker Centre here on Monday night.
Title favorite James Giam fired the first salvo when he disposed of qualifier Aaron Teo 3-0 (78-2, 61-17, 64-36) in less than one hour.
The evergreen star representing Kuching Permata Recreational Club also hit a break of 40, 32 and 28.
He is hungry for the title and his superb display should be an ominous warning to other title chasers.
Two-times Sarawak Closed central region champion Mark Yeo also got to a flying start win an easy 3-1 (47-18, 70-5, 38-67, 56-11) victory over Chua Bing Beng to qualify for the last 16.
Yeo, the brightest star produced by Sibu Division Billiards & Snooker Association (SDBSA) in recent years, showed his usual composure and tactical skills to take the first two games without any trouble.
However, in the haste to finish, he encountered some hiccups in the third game.
Kuching’s Jacob Wong had to fend off strong resistance before edging past Sibu’s Ng Hong Man 3-1 (48-26, 59-46, 30-59, 43-10) to qualify for the second round.
A total of 32 players are taking part in the championship organised by Sibu Executive 3 Snooker Centre for the second consecutive year.
Prize money for the champion is RM1,000 with the runner-up getting RM800 and RM400 for joint third and fourth.
Quarter-finalists will also receive RM100 each and the highest break of 70 points will fetch RM300.
All prizes are sponsored by Sibu Executive 3 Snooker Centre.