Shehab and Al Joker lose to Chinese Taipei pair

The UAE lost in the snooker doubles event which was held yesterday at the Dongju college Gymnasium in Busan.

The UAE's top seed Mohammed Shehab and second seed Mohammed Al Joker won their first round match against Macau 3-0. However they lost in the second round to Chinese Taipei 3-2.

The UAE play in the second snooker event today which starts at 10 am Busan time (5 am UAE local time) at the same venue. The UAE will be represented by Mohammed Shehab, Mohammed Al Joker, Issa Ali Al Hossany and Obaid Khalifa.

The UAE hoopsters will take on Kuwait today to decide places from 9 to 12 at the Geumjeong Gymnasium in Busan at 1 pm Busan time (8 am UAE local time). The UAE after they failed to qualify for quarterfinals, will be looking to win the ninth place.

The UAE will also meet Mongolia on Sunday and Qatar on October 10th to decide the last places. The UAE are participating with only two athletes in the athletics event which starts next Monday at the Busan main stadium.

The two athletes who will arrive today are Issa Bilal and Mohammed Yousuf. Both of them will run in the 110m hurdles heats on October 8.

The UAE athletics team manager Fateh Allah Abdullah said the UAE athletes are not expected to win medals.

"We are taking part with the smallest athletics delegation in our participation history in the Asian Games - just two athletes in the 110m hurdles. We are not expecting to win medals and we told the National Olympic Committee about it and they know that we will not be able to win medals. We are preparing for the 2006 Asiad in Qatar."

Fateh Allah said even if the UAE participated with a big athletics delegation there is no hope of winning medals.

"Even if we take part with 40 athletes in Busan, there is no chance to win a single medal. We are not prepared well and we have to prepare the team from the last day in the Bangkok Games in 1998 and that didn't happen due to lack of financial support to prepare the athletes in a long plan schedule for the Asian Games," concluded Fateh Allah.

Omar Behroozian and Mahmoud Nader who arrived in Busan yesterday will start playing immediately in the tennis event today.

Their late arrival was due to participation in the Arab Championships which concluded recently. They will play in the teams' event today. The singles and the doubles will be held on October 6 and 7.