Qatar conquer GCC pool event

Dubai: The UAE couldn’t produce a repeat of their 8-ball pool heroics as they lost to Qatar in the final of the team 9-ball event at the 2012 GCC Billiards Championship at the Ezone Club in Dubai on Friday.

Qatar had earlier captured the 9-ball singles gold medal through Bashar Hussain and he was ably aided by young Ali Al Obaidly in the team contest, giving Qatar the tournament’s overall crown ahead of the UAE.

Qatar put the first dent into the UAE’s dreams of grabbing another gold in the tournament on Thursday night, when they edged the host nation 2-1 in their third singles group stage match. Once again, it was the pair of Hussain and Al Obaidly who delivered for Qatar, while Ali Saeed was the only winner for the UAE.

That left the Qataris with a relatively simple task of taming Bahrain in the last singles league match on Friday afternoon and, when Hussain and Al Obaidly emerged winners from their respective battles, Bahrain conceded to give Qatar a 3-0 victory.

The UAE team of Saeed, Khalid Esbaitah and Salah Rimawi went on to beat Kuwait 2-1 in the race for the silver medal.

Abdul Munem Al Khattal, Deputy Secretary-General of the UAE Billiards & Snooker Association and in-charge of billiards in the country, said: “I would say it was an encouraging performance by our national players. We had two gold medals last time but were not expecting a repeat this time around.

“There are a number of positives to be drawn from this tournament, but at the same time some of the shortcomings have also been highlighted and we will soon start working to remedy these.”

The UAE captured the 8-ball pool team gold and 9-ball team silver, plus bronze in the 9-ball singles to finish second overall in the tournament.

Meanwhile, results on Thursday night have thrown Group Q wide open in the 41st National Day Snooker Championship at the Dubai Snooker Club, leaving all four players in contention for places in the quarter-finals.

Eisa Ali Sayed edged Englishman Darren Taylor 4-3 and Jordanian Khalid Al Azzouni beat former Pakistan international Mohammad Shafiq 4-3 to earn a strike at quarter-final berths.

In the Group P matches, Mohammad Hussain topped the standings following a 4-2 victory over Ahmad Shehab and Abdul Rahman Saif qualified in second place after a 4-0 win over Marwan Ebrahim.

The last-16 battles were to finish on Friday night at the same venue. The final will take place on December 17.