Steven Wong (right) beat Yii Chee Hang 3-0 (67-13, 61-38, 52-25) to qualify for the last 32.
SIBU: The Sarawak Central Region Snooker Championship which began on Tuesday night at Executive 3 Snooker centre has seen 12 players cruising through the first round.
They are Aaron Teo, Clement Tan, Nazirul Hadi, Tommy Tay, Christopher Tang, Peter Wong, Steven Wong, Lo Chee Wee, Wong Siew Hwa, Shamil Salim, John Ling and Ahmad Aman.
With the exception of Nazirul and Shamil, who are from the Armed Forces, the rest of the qualifiers are representatives from the various local snooker centres.
They will take on 20 other ranked players for the last 32 to be held tonight.
Defending champion Mark Yeo and last year’s first runner-up Danny Wong will be in action tonight.
Yeo is all fired up to retain the title but title-contenders like Danny and last year’s semi-finalists Jee Chau Hui and Sim Hong Hui or even dark horse Pau Chiong Kiong might spring a surprise or two.
“I really only have one objective in mind and that is to defend the title.
“I will try my best to play to my best ability and the rest is less important to me,” Yeo said when asked on his chance in the competition.
The championship, organised by Sarawak Billiards and Snooker Sport Federation (SBSSF), will pick the top two winners to represent the central zone for the KL-trip sponsored by SBSSF.
For the central zone, the winner will take home RM1,200 while the first runner-up will pocket RM600 and the joint third, RM300 each.
The quarter-finalist will each get RM100.
A separate prize of RM300 will be given to the player achieving the highest break while a century breaker will get RM500.
A total of 48 cueists are taking part in the championship.
The southern zone to be held in Kuching and the northern zone to be held in Miri will be held at a later stage.
Two top winners from the southern and northern zones will also be picked to represent Sarawak for the KL-trip.