KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian team came out tops at the Tri-Nations Snooker Invitational Championship at the Singapore Cuesports Academy last week.
The tournament, played over four singles and one doubles, featured a strong field of players including KL Sea Games men's singles champion, Sithideth Sakbieng of Laos and Singaporeans Chang Keng Kwang-Bernard Tay.
Malaysia were represented by Moh Keen Hoo, Mohd Reza Hassan and youngster Lim Kok Leong.
In the opening match against Laos, Keen Hoo made easy work of his opponent, Minalavong Suriya, winning 3-0.
Sithideth pulled one back for Laos when he saw off Kok Leong 2-1, but Reza steadied the ship for Malaysia with a 2-1 win over Pautthabandit, knocking in a century break of 104.
Reza, however, failed to repeat his heroics, when he lost 2-1 in the fourth singles tie. In the deciding match, the IBSF World championships combination of Keen Hoo-Kok Leong secured the winner for Malaysia when they romped to a 3-0 win over Sithideth-Suriya.
In the second tie, Singapore barely gave any fight as they went down tamely 4-1 to Laos
In the final tie against Singapore, Keen Hoo drew first blood for Malaysia, when he defeated rookie, Jaden Ong 2-1.
The host nation, however, levelled the score through seasoned campaigner, Marvin Lim who defeated Kok Leong 2-1. Reza, who then took to the table, beat Bernard 2-1, before Keen Hoo-Kok Leong once again crushed their opponents Keng Kwang-Bernard 3-0 for a 4-1 win.