Al Howri lifts gloom with pool gold

Fujairah: Mohammad Shehab and Mohammad Al Joker of the UAE ‘A' team crashed out at the semi-final stage of the 2nd West Asian Championships snooker team event, but Hani Al Howri lifted the gloom with a gold medal-winning performance in the 8-ball pool singles.

Al Howri, who has been at the forefront of UAE pool for a long time, turned in a superb show to demolish Ahmad Al Jalaad of Jordan 9-4 in the title showdown on the last day of the championships at the Concorde Fujairah Hotel on Saturday.

The prize presentation ceremony was presided over by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Hamad Bin Mohammad Al Sharqi, Crown Prince of Fujairah, who also inaugurated the new official website of the UAE Billiards & Snooker Association (UAEBSA). The new bilingual UAEBSA website aims to provide billiard sports fans with timely coverage of the events taking place not only in the Emirates, but also the entire West Asian region.

The 2nd West Asian Championships, featuring more than 60 top players from 13 countries, was staged under the auspices of Shaikh Mohammad, an ardent sports supporter.

Al Howri was beaming with joy and pride after capturing his first major title in the past six years. He said: "My first match had been against the top Kuwaiti player and beating him 7-2 has been the key to my success in this tournament. It was a big win for me and I felt very confident.

Keeping his cool

"Later on, there were only tough matches for me, but I kept my cool through them and was rewarded with victories. The 7-6 triumph over the Iranian professional Takhti Zarekhani in the quarter-finals came as a further boost.

"Then when I beat Salah Al Rimawi, who is the top-ranked pool player in UAE at the moment, in the semi-final, I knew I was in with a realistic chance of winning the gold medal and I am happy that I did.

"I am grateful to my team mates for being on my side throughout those games in the tournament."

As for the snooker team competition, there was dejection for both pre-tournament favourites — the UAE ‘A' team and Iran.

The UAE pair of Shehab and Al Joker were upstaged 3-2 by Syria, while Iran, spearheaded by reigning world amateur champion Hussain Vafaei, came a cropper against the spirited Qatari duo of Ahmad Saif and Mohsin Bukshaisha in the semi-finals.The gold medal was eventually won by the Syrian team of Omar Al Kojah and Karam Fatima, who vanquished Qatar 3-0 with ease in the final.

The UAE ended the championships with a respectable haul of one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.