BRUNEI'S Ahmad Taufiq Murni and Ak Md Saiful Azri Pg Roslee might meet each other in today's 3rd Borneo Games 8-ball singles final at 12pm.

Fresh off their victory in the 9-ball doubles competition at the Billiards & Snooker Hall of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas on Monday, the Sultanate's two representatives can take to the same table once again if they beat their respective opponents in today's semi-final at 9am.

Ak Md Saiful Azri meets Sabah's Lee Hee Sin in the first semi-final while Ahmad Taufiq faces Sarawak's Giam Ann Chai in the second semi-final.

"We wouldn't say we planned for this to happen, but we were hoping that we wouldn't meet each other early in the competition," said Ak Md Saiful Azri yesterday. "If possible, we would have liked to meet in the final."

"We are both fairly confident we can make it to the final tomorrow (Wednesday)," said Ahmad Taufiq, who beat Lee 7-4 and Sarawak's David Tan Thiam Hua 7-4 in yesterday's round robin action.

Ak Md Saiful Azri defeated Giam 7-5 in his first match and would have gone up against Ahmad Taufiq in the semi-finals had he not lost 7-6 to Sabah's Rashid Mambalusan in his second match. The other games saw Giam beat Rashid 7-5 while Lee cruised to a 7-3 victory over Tan.

Ahmad Taufiq looked tired during his two and a half hour match against Tan, who took his time on every shot. The Bruneian's first match against Lee lasted three hours.

"I do not know if it was some strategy or if he (Tan) was really looking closely at every shot," said Ahmad Taufiq.

For both Ahmad Taufiq and Ak Md Saiful Azri, it will be the first time they face their respective opponents.

"We do not know much about our opponents, all we know is that we have to play our own game," said Ak Md Saiful Azri. "It has been alright playing here and the pressure is nothing we can't handle, though we are more used to playing 9-ball."

The 9-ball singles competition starts tomorrow at 9am with Ak Md Saiful Azri facing Sabah's Jual Terman and Sabah's Chong Jhun Heung taking on Sarawak's Wong See Choon in the round robin stage.

Ahmad Taufiq will go up against Wong at 12pm, with Jual also facing Sarawak's Kang Seng Kwan at the same time.

The match scheduled for 3pm pits Ahmad Taufiq against Chong and Ak Md Saiful Azri against Kang.

The semi-finals are set for 9am and the final for 5:30pm.

Courtesy from Brunei Times