Lim Kok Leong
Lim Kok Leong (Chinese: 林谷良[1]) is a Malaysian professional snooker player. He won the 2022 IBSF World Snooker Championship, and will compete as a professional on the World Snooker Tour as of the 2024-25 snooker season. CareerSnookerIn May 2022 he was runner-up to James Wattana at the delayed 2021 Southeast Asian Games snooker tournament.[2] His run to the final included a 4-0 semi-final win against Passakorn Suwanawat. He also won the Men's snooker 6-red singles at the same event.[3] That win was reported to be on his 27th birthday, on 18 May 2022, and included a 5-3 win the final against Jeffrey Roda of the Philippines.[4] In November 2022 he beat Amir Sarkhosh of Iran 5-0 in the final of the IBSF World Snooker Championship player in Antalya, Turkey. His run to the final included a 4-0 win over Eden Sharav.[5] He became the first Malaysian snooker player to win the amateur title.[6] In May 2023 he was a bronze medal winner at the 2023 SEA Games, losing to Sunny Akani at the semi-final stage of the individual competition.[7] In May 2024, he defeated Liang Xiaolong to reach the final round of the Asian Q School in Bangkok, where he beat former professional Gao Yang 4-3 to secure a two-year card on the main WST Tour.[8] The tour card has only been used twice: these were the qualifying rounds for the 2024 Wuhan Open and the 2024 British Open, from 28th July to 3rd August. Leong lost 1–5 to Dylan Emery in the Wuhan Open qualifiers, but defeated Anthony Hamilton by 4–1 in the British Open qualifiers, and would have played Mark Selby in the main stages of that event, but then withdrew from competing in any other event since. The reasons for the withdrawals are unknown, due to no statement from either the World Snooker Tour or the WPBSA, the governing body. DoublesHe is a twice winner of the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (ISBF) World Team Championships.[9] In 2015 Lim Kok Leong won the partnered with Moh Keen Hoo, in Karachi, Pakistan after a narrow 5-4 win in the final over home team Asjad Iqbal and Shahid Aftab.[10] In 2019 he and Moh Keen Ho won gold at the Southeast Asian Games defeating Philippines’ Alvin Barberro and Jefrey Roda 3-1 in the best-of-5 final.[11] In October 2022 he won the World Team Snooker Championship in Kuala Lumpur, again with Moh Keen Hoo. They beat Thai pair Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn-Jong and Rak Boonrod 4-2 in the final.[12] In May 2023 he was a silver medal winner at the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh, losing with Moh Keen Hoo to Cambodian pair Suon Chhay and Men Sophanith in the final.[13] Performance and rankings timeline
Career finalsTeam finals: 3 (2 titles)
Pro-am finals: 2 (1 title)
Amateur finals: 3 (3 title)
References
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