Dubai: The final of the 23rd Sharp Cosmos UAE Open Snooker Championship provided a clean display of mental focus and cue ball control, courtesy of Mohammad Shehab, who delighted a packed gallery at the Dubai Snooker Club en route to winning the title.

The conclusion of the three-week event again saw the gulf's top two players, Shehab and Mohammad Al Joker, battling it out in a ranking final for the sixth time in eight starts this year.

The best of eleven final started off closely enough with Shehab eventually pinching it by eight points to open his account.

Al Joker could still not get going in the second and it was a fairly scrappy frame with some key safety exchanges that also fell Shehab's way.

Looking set to allow his opponent to run away with the match, Joker stopped the rot by responding with his lion hearted tenacity to pull one closer at 1-2.

The fourth frame was the a turning point. With the frame see-sawing back and forth in momentum, it all came down to the final yellow and green. Al Joker played a delightful cut back pot on the yellow into a blind baulk pocket.

Just failing to gain perfect position for the green, Joker was forced to initiate another safety exchange. This was resolved when Shehab played a clever shot when he appeared to be in trouble.

Playing the green in such a way that it knocked the pink off the cushion, and left a snooker behind the pink, Shehab forced the error that eventually yielded him the prized 3-1 lead going into the interval.

The next two frames were vintage Shehab. Restricting his opponent to a paltry fifteen points in the fifth, he continued with the cue ball control he is renowned for in constructing a precise clearance of one hundred and thirteen.

This dealt a further blow to Joker's esteem, as it took away his highest break prize, which he had recorded with a ninety one clearance in his semifinal against UAE captain Obaid Khalifa.

This spurt of quality play from Shehab, last season's end of campaign number one ranked player, effectively broke the back of the match. Al Joker placed a token of resistance to claw back to 2-5, but it was too little too late. The player who had capitalised on his chances all the way through the match quickly added the eight to seal a neat 6-2 win.

Result

Mohammad Shehab bt Mohammad Al Joker 6-2 (66-53; 83-37; 20-62; 73-48; 91-15; 113 (113 clearance)-22; 56-70; 57-12.

Winners Prizes Champion: Rolling trophy, replica, Sharp Aquos LCD TC 37", Sharp DVD player and Sharp Viewcam; Runner Up: Sharp Aquos LCD TV 26", Sharp DVD player.; Semi finalists: Sharp Aquos LCD TV 15"; Quarter finalists: Sharp Home Theatre ; Highest break: Sharp refrigerator.