Crown Prince Down 8-3 In World C'ship Debut

Bandar Seri Begawan - His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, flexed his sporting prowess yesterday with his debut match at the 2006 Philippines World Pool Championship, the most prestigious and coveted pool tournament in the world.

Held at the Philippines International Convention Centre in Manila, the match finished eight frames to three in favour of his Group 10 British opponent Darren Appleton yesterday.

The match was broadcast live on ESPN. Appleton comfortably took the first frame but His Royal Highness regained his composure to secure the second. However, a series of unlucky mistakes cost the Crown Prince his third and fourth frames as Appleton, who has played twice before in Manila, made best use of his experience to extend his lead.

Dressed in a casual yellow polo t-shirt, the Crown Prince dominated the fifth frame reducing the gap three-two.

Both players showed tremendous concentration and even showed off their unique talents as both tried to out manoeuvre the other into forcing an error.

Appleton managed to stretch his lead at the seventh frame following a series of lucky breaks' and some unforced errors by His Royal Highness.

The 9 ball dropped neatly into the pocket giving another frame ' to the Crown Prince as he made some headway into the best-of-eight-frame match.

But despite the Crown Prince's tenacity, Appleton outclassed his royal competitor to win the match in under an hour.

Filipino Francisco Bustamante is spearheading Group 10 composed of Briton Darren Appleton, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Jharome Pena of the Philippines. Defending champion Wu Chia ching from Taiwan is the tournament's top seed but favourite is home-grown Efren Reyes, who lost his first match on his first day.

His Royal Highness will be chalking his cue against Pena tomorrow with Bustamante following the next day in the US$400,000 championship.  -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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