Last 16 qualifiers of the 29th National Snooker Championship in Kuala Lumpur.
SIBU: Sarawak’s challenge in the 29th National Closed Snooker Championship fizzled out after Rolando Lim, the last man standing, was shown the exit after battling for a place in the last 16.
National No. 3 Patrick Ooi proved too hot to handle for Lim at M Club Snooker and Dart, Kuala Lumpur last weekend.
Lim, last season’s Sarawak Closed runner-up, put up a brave fight before going down 1-4 (16-68, 58-2, 20-59, 57-73, 27-60).
Nevertheless, the 34-year-old businessman from Kuching, who was making his national debut, derived satisfaction and motivation from the outing.
“It was my first foray into the national snooker championship and I consider my performance as satisfactory. I may not be at my best and, hopefully, the exposure and experience gained will inspire me to scale greater heights,” he told The Borneo Post.
After losing the first frame, Lim surprisingly captured the second to draw level.
But the fourth frame proved to be the turning point.
Trailing 46-60 and with two coloured balls remaining, Lim won a snok and reduced his deficit to 52-60.
However, he made a costly decision when he tried to retrieve the pink ball, which was perched at a very difficult angle, but failed to pot the ball.
Ooi stepped in and cleared the table with his trademark long distance strike.
The setback somewhat demoralised Lim who then allowed Ooi to wrap up the fifth frame 60-27.
“I must admit that Ooi is the better player and lack of experience had certainly affected my performance,” Lim observed.
Sarawak was represented by six players at this year’s national championship.
Mark Yeo and Sim Hong Hui could not go past the round of 128 while Ng Hong Man and Elvis Wong failed to advance beyond the last 64.
Defending champion Malaysia No. 1 Rory Thor Chuan Leong will cross swords with Mohd Reza in the final showdown.
Meanwhile, Yeo described the performance of Sarawak players as satisfactory.
“Our target is to qualify for the last 32 and we are happy that Rolando had made it. We know that our standard are several rungs behind the players from the Peninsula and we always regard the trip more of an exposure than coming back with titles,” he said.
No Sarawak player had ever reached the last 16. Lim’s performance matched Yeo who had also made it to the last 32 in the previous three editions.