Kamali: 'I need more international exposure'

Dubai: Top UAE junior Khalid Ali Kamali is pleading for more international experience and has promised to deliver as he hopes to become the country's first professional snooker player.

Kamali, 17, is the only junior snooker player worthy of representing the UAE in international competitions worldwide. He recently returned from a trip to Iran, after his challenge in the World U-21 Snooker Championship came to an end in the Round of 32 stage, when he lost 5-2 to Pakistan's Asjad Iqbal.

The Emirati progressed to the knockout stage of the event after winning three of his five round-robin games in Group H.

Kamali put aside two 4-2 defeats to Iran's Babak Rostami and China's Shi Hanqing and went on to steamroll both Saudi Arabia's Abdul Rahman Al Ammar and Romanian Bogdan Cozmaciuc 4-0, before routing Egyptian Fadi Mahmoud 4-2.

His luck, though, ran out against Iqbal. However, Kamali will take heart from his performance in a tournament where he was one of the youngest players.

"I need to play in more international tournaments to improve my game - friendly matches and tournaments as much as I can before the GCC tournament in February. This was a good experience as there were many tough players in the draw, but I can say that I did my best.

"I did really well in the group stage and qualified and after that I faced Iqbal and he was better. I missed a lot of balls and gave him a chance and he potted everything," he said.

Kamali's coach Mohammad Hassim Raibin agred with his ward, saying: "He is stable in his play right now, but needs the experience to cope with big matches.

"Khalid tends to take it a bit easy, but he's young now and I feel a little more experience will make him a lot more serious because he has the skill and ability. It's just the seriousness and big match experience that he lacks."