Fujairah: The number of countries participating in the up-coming second West Asian snooker championship has now gone up to 13 with a late entry from Lebanon, ensuring a full representation of the region in the event.
This was announced by the UAE Billiards and Snooker Association secretary general Sultan Al Joker at a press conference yesterday at the Concorde Fujairah hotel, which will serve as the venue for the tournament from Saturday to January 20.
Apparel Group chairman Nilesh Ved and Mohammad Fekry, General Manager of the Concorde Fujairah hotel also addressed the press conference. The championships, being sponsored by Club Apparel, will see more than 60 top players from 13 West Asian nations compete for the gold medals in the snooker singles, snooker team, 8- and 9-ball pool singles events.
The participating countries are Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen and the hosts UAE. Al Joker told the media that the UAE have two very good players in Mohammad Shehab and Mohammad Al Joker, who have served the country very well for many years.
Top honours
"It will not be an easy outing for us," he said, adding, "The competition at this level of the sport is getting tougher and tougher with the passage of time. We are not expecting any easy games and we are not going to take the things lightly as well. Players from Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain and Syria have all improved a lot over the past few years.
"The UAE won the top honours in snooker at the inaugural West Asian Championships in Saudi Arabia last year, which makes us the pre-tournment favourites and this can put players under pressure as well."
The Iranians are likely to put up a tough challenge through reigning world amateur champion Hussain Vafaei Ayouri. Iraq and Bahrain are both fresh from capturing a gold apiece at the 2011 Arab Games in Doha.
The UAE team comprises Eisa Ali Syed, Salem Ali Salem, Khalid Kamali, Ahmad Abdul Qader, Abdul Rahman Saif and Abdullah Al Attar. The pool squad comprises Salah Al Rimawi, Hani Al Hori, Ali Saeed and Amin Fikri.
