Jee (left) receiving the top prize from Ting. At left is the President of Sibu Division Billiards and Snooker Association Joe Ting.
SIBU: Comeback specialist Jee Chau Hui rallied from a set down to edge Sim Hong Hui 3-2 (9-48, 68-24, 71-60, 32-54, 55-37) to lift the title in the Sibu Cueball Snooker Championship held at Cueball International Centre on Thursday night.
With the victory, Jee collected RM1,000 plus a trophy while Sim had to be contented with RM500 and a trophy. The two other semi-finalists were Mark Yeo and Pau Chiong Kiong, with each collecting RM250.
Jee, spotting his trademark cool composure, fired the first salvo but Sim stormed ahead to take the lead at 20-5. The highly temperamental Sim, famed for his long ball sharpshooting, continued with his scoring spree before wrapping up the first frame easily at 48-9.
In the second frame, Jee was more careful with his shots but Sim stayed within striking distance and refused to be cowed.
Trailing at 34-19, Sim was pushed to the corner when he got ‘snooked’ after the cue ball ended up in between a green and a pink ball.
It took a massive effort for Sim to rescue the game but by then, he had already wasted a healthy 22 points and allowed Jee to widen the lead to 56-19.
Jee, 38, who is the 2015 Sarawak Central Region snooker champion, went on to wrap up the game at 55-19, 64-23 and 68-24.
Going into the third frame, the fast attacking Sim deployed a more tactical game before surging into an early lead again at 1-27, 1-35, 3-36.
The 34-year-old Sim could have thought he was in cruise control of the game but Jee had other ideas.
Trailing at 12-49, Jee suddenly found a breakthrough before hauling 18 points to narrow the deficit to 30-49. With play getting more intense, Jee upped the tempo to close the gap at 49-55, 56-57, 56-60 before clearing the three remaining colour balls to wrap up the game at 71-60.
Sim returned for broke in the fourth frame, knowing that a defeat would spell the end of his challenge in his title bid.
Again he surged into an early lead at 17-7 but the stubborn Jee slowly crawled back to narrow the gap to 17-17.
It was then point for point but somehow, Sim managed to push ahead and his safety shots rarely gave Jee any chance of retaliation.
Trailing at 28-30, Sim brilliantly potted a blue ball to reclaim the lead at 30-36.
It was all Sim from then onwards before he cleared the table at 54-32. In the deciding frame, both players threw caution to the wind. With the crowd growing, it also put further pressure on both players to deliver.
Jee again had to come from behind in the deciding frame, trailing 5-14, 20-25, 23-27 before overcoming the fast tiring Sim 55-37 to lift the title.
Cueball International Centre owner Ting Siew Chon later gave way the prizes.