Crown Prince Worid Pool Meet In Manila
By M K Anwar

Bandar Seri Begawan - His Royal Highness Prince Hj Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister in the Prime Minister's Office will be flying high the Brunei flag in the Philippines on Saturday when he will be representing the country at the 2006 World Pool Championship (WPC) from Nov 4-12.

An avid green baize player, the Crown Prince will be making his debut appearance at the WPC and will be pitting his skills in Group 10 with contestants from England and the Philippines.

He is the only royalty in the fray and that speaks volumes of his interest in the sport despite his everyday tasks of being the Crown Prince and Senior Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

The Crown Prince's keen interest in handling the cue dates back to his Oxford days. That has seen him take part in national and international competitions regularly.

There will be a total of 128 players from all over the world in the 2006 Championship vying for a US$400,000 total prize money. The winner of the championship will pocket US$100,000.

Last year, the event was won by Chia-Chiang Wu from Chinese Taipei who is the top seed this year.

The first match for His Royal Highness will be against Darren Appleton from England on Saturday, Nov 4.

On Monday (Nov 6), His Royal Highness will meet another qualifier that has yet to be decided while on Tuesday (Nov 7), HRH's match will be against the 10th seeded, Francisco Bustamante from the Philippines.

The top two from each group will go through the knockout stages. There are 32 groups in total each with four players.

The last competition participated by the Crown Prince was in December last year at the 2005 Manila SEA Games where he reached the semifinals in the 8-ball doubles competition. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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