Indonesia taps pool players to help rack up medals at Asiad

After training for months without even knowing if he would be called up for the Asian Games, Ricky Yang has finally been assured his hard work won't go to waste.

Indonesia's top pool player, Ricky Yang, will have a shot to compete in the Asian Games in China.

Indonesia's top pool player was informed on Monday (August 30) that he had qualified for the Asian Games, which will be held in Guangzhou, China, in November.

The Golden Indonesia Programme (Prima), the screening arm of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) for international tournaments, also cleared Irsal A Nasution for the Games.

Irsal reached the finals of the Jakarta leg of the Guinness World Series of Pool in July.

"I'm obviously happy with this decision, and I'll prove to them that they made the right decision by playing well in China," Ricky said.

Sports officials were initially reluctant to call up any pool players for the Asian Games because of their recent history of failing to produce gold medals at international competitions.

At both the 2006 Asian Games and the 2009 Southeast Asian Games, Indonesian pool players were unable to win gold.

Ricky was eliminated early in the Doha Asian Games, failing to get out of the first round in the 9-ball event and only making it to the second round in 8-ball. At the 2009 SEA Games in Laos, he had to settle for silver medals in 9-ball singles and 9-ball doubles.

Despite this, however, Ricky, ranked 16th in the world and fifth in Asia, and Irsal both got the nod for China, no doubt helped by Irsal's impressive performance at the Guinness tournament.

Irsal is slated to compete in 10-ball in the Asian Games, while Ricky will participate in the 8-ball and 9-ball events.

"My main target, however, will be a victory in 9-ball because I have a better chance there. Of course, the Filipinos will be my biggest rivals," Ricky said.

"I know there are only two months to go before the Asian Games begin, but that's enough for me to be ready."

The Chairman of the Indonesian Billiards Association (Pobsi), Tutuk Kurniawan, said the country had improved its medal chances with the addition of Ricky and Irsal to the national team.

"Ricky is a very skillfull player, while Irsal has the nerves to handle the pressure even though he's new to the big stage," Tutuk said. "That's why a gold medal in the Asian Games is not far-fetched."