Esther feels only a lucky break will help her win a medal

FOCUS ON BILLIARDS AND SNOOKER COMPETITION DATES: Nov 13-20 VENUE: Guangzhou Asian Games Town Gymnasium EVENTS: English billiards singles, carom 3-cushion singles, snooker singles, snooker team, 8-ball pool singles, 9-ball pool singles (men); 6-red snooker singles, 6-red snooker team, 8-ball pool singles, 9-ball pool singles (women). MEDALS AT STAKE: 10-10-10

TEAM MALAYSIA MEN: Moh Keen Ho, Thor Chuan Leong, Lai Chee Wei (snooker); Ibrahim Amir, Benjamin Lee Poh Soon (pool). WOMEN: Esther Kwan, Suhana Dewi Sabtu (pool) MANAGER: Melvin Chia See Onn COACH: David Ong TARGET: Nil PREVIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS: 0-1-0 (Doha 2006)

LADY luck was on Esther Kwan’s side when she earned a surprise silver medal in the billiards and snooker competition at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

She was virtually an unknown outside the cue sports fraternity before the Doha Games. But in Qatar, Esther, a Category B athlete stamped her mark by winning the medal in the women’s nine-ball pool event, losing in the final to former world champion Liu Sin of Taiwan.

In fact, Esther had previously never won anything at the international level.

Category B athletes are funded by their national associations to compete in the Games and will receive reimbursements from the Olympic Council of Malaysia if they return with a medal.

For Esther, she was also rewarded with RM40,000 for her achievement in Doha under the National Sports Council (NSC) incentive scheme.

Esther said that the silver medal winning effort was her most memorable moment in the cue sport.

“It brings back fond memories in the Asian Games but I am going to need all the luck in Guangzhou to finish on the rostrum again,” said Esther, who together with Suhana Dewi Sabtu are the two Malaysian competitors in the Asiad pools event.

Esther, who picked up a bronze in the 2009 Laos SEA Games, said that the element of luck played a huge role in her success in Doha but felt that lightning was unlikely to strike twice for her.

“It all depends on the element of luck. I have not progressed well since Doha and my performance has not been up to the mark in recent competitions in the world championship series in Shanghai and Taiwan. It was not a good outing for me,” she said.

“The only consolation, I guess, is that in Guangzhou I may be seeded and be exempted from the first round.

Besides that the field is going to be tough with hosts China as the top contenders for medals. They have four players, who have held world titles in the last two years and that speaks volumes of their strength.”

Among the top contender is former world champion Pan Xiao Ling, who won the bronze in the Doha Asiad.

Malaysia will have four male players for the pool competitions and three for the snooker events.

Seasoned campaigner Ibrahim Amir and Benjamin Lee Poh Soon are the pool players while Moh Keen Ho, Thor Chuan Leong and Lai Chee Wei will feature in snooker.

Team manager Melvin Chia also shared the same view and felt that it would boil down on the luck of the draw to establish whether the pool players would do well.

“I guess it is not going to be easy in the pool events, be it in the men’s or women’s competitions. The Chinese, Filipinos and Taiwanese are stronger in these events,” he said.

However, Melvin said that the national players in snooker should show more maturity since they last featured in Doha four years ago.

He added that the doubles pair of Chuan Leong and Chee Wei, who were placed fourth in the 2006 Asiad, stood a chance to get on the podium in Guangzhou.

“I expect the snooker players to do better this times. In Doha, they lost to Thailand in the playoff for the bronze medal in both the doubles and team events. The players are more matured now and should qualify for the semi-finals,” said Melvin.

Keen Hoo will find the going tough in the singles with so many top players from Hong Kong and China.

Malaysia’s best performance in the Asian Games from the sport was a 1-1-0 tally at the 1998 Bangkok Games. Then, Sam Chong took the snooker singles silver and partnered Ooi Chin Kay for the doubles gold.