UAE coach disagrees with Al Musharrakh decision

Dubai: UAE national team coach Chris Vallendar has vowed to support Ahmad Al Musharrakh following his decision to turn professional, despite the fact he feels the move has come too soon.

Vallendar fears that Al Musharrakh has ruled himself out of a wide range of amateur tournaments that could have better aided his long-term development. The gamble of short-cutting to professionalism is that if he isn’t instantly successful, he’ll be without opportunities for greater exposure.

“I’ve always believed Ahmad can become professional, I just feel he’s going the wrong way about it,” said Vallendar.

“I feel he hasn’t made the correct use of the avenues available to him, which he would have had if he’d stayed amateur. He could have kept these available up until Q-School [for the major tours] and qualified and I would have said great, that’s the time to turn professional.

“Instead, if he doesn’t finish top three in the Mena Tour he won’t get an invite to the Dubai Desert Classic as a professional, which he would have done as an amateur.

“The danger is that, past the Mena Tour, there won’t be enough professional events to prepare him for qualifying school. You have to qualify to play in almost all professional tournaments nowadays and if you don’t have a card you don’t have many other options to play.

“He knows how I feel, but he’s made his decision and I’ll stand by and back him 100 per cent.”