Dubai
Three of the four players from the UAE have entered the Round 32 stages of the 33rd Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS) Men’s Snooker Championships being held in Doha.
The UAE reigning national champion Mohammad Shehab was the third and last player making it to the knockout stages despite going down 1-4 against Saeed Abooyesani of Iran in a Group A match on the final day of round-robin matches on Tuesday.
Shehab had already registered emphatic 4-0 wins against Marlon Manalo of the Philippines and Aung Phyo of Myanmar to book his place in the next round. Despite a loss in the third match, Shehab advanced along with Abooyesani for Wednesday’s knockout rounds that will start from 10am.
“Khalid [Al Kamali] was there for the experience on a big stage like an Asian tournament. The remaining three UAE players have been playing well and we expect them to go deeper into the competition,” UAE manager Mohammad Abdullah told Gulf News from Doha.
“From the knockouts tomorrow [Wednesday], we enter a different stage of the competition wherein all the strong players will be in action. We expect our players to do well and even challenge for the title,” he added.
Al Joker was the first to advance to the knockouts with three straight wins. He first got the better of Syrian teenager Yazan Al Haddad 4-2 and then scored identical 4-1 wins against Taipei’s Hsin Ting Chen and Qatar’s Abdul Mohsin. In his fourth match, however, India’s Dharminder Lilly secured a 4-0 win as both players advanced. Al Hashmi had made it to the next stages on Monday with an emphatic 4-0 win over Jordan Ebrahim Mahmoud.
“Now is the start of the actual competition where each and every match will be crucial and decisive,” the UAE manager said.
“All three of our players are focused and they have the experience of dealing with competition pressure on the big stage. We expect this to come in handy,” he added.
Thursday will see the quarter-finals being played from 10am, while the semi-finals will be played from 4pm the same day. The final will be held at 1pm on Friday.
