Dubai: Mohammad Shehab, the UAE’s number one snooker player, asserts that he is not content with finishing runner-up in the 32nd ACBS Asian Snooker Championship and says that the result will only spur him on in his quest for more success.
Shehab, who was appearing in his second Asian final following 2006, was beaten 6-2 by Thailand’s Kritsanut Lertsattauatorn in the 11-frame championship match played at the Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federations (QBSF) earlier this week.
The Abu Dhabi cueist had also lost to another Thai player, Issara Kachaiwong, in the 2006 final at Colombo, Sri Lanka.
“I have mixed emotions about this result,” Shehab told Gulf News yesterday. “It’s the second time I’ve played in the Asian finals and the second time that I was beaten, so obviously I’m a bit disappointed.
“You enter a tournament with the aim of winning, not to finish runner-up. So while I’m to some extent happy that all the hard work I have put in the last couple of months has paid off and I could reach the final, I still did not cross that last bridge,” he said.
“But I feel I can smell success and I’m prepared to do everything that I can and put in extra work in order to bring the Asian and World Championship Trophies to my trophy cabinet.”
It was nonetheless a giant performance from Shehab bearing in mind that fifty-five of the best snooker players from 18 Asian countries participated in the region’s premier non-professional tournament which is sanctioned by the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports (ACBS).
By virtue of winning the event, Lertsattayathorn was given a two-year card on the professional World Snooker Tour.
Ever the sportsman, Shehab paid credit to his conqueror and said: “Full credit to Kritsanut, he deserved to win the title because he did nothing wrong all through the tournament.
“I’m really happy for him and wish him all the best for the future. But I have also been blessed in this game which has been so important to my life. Over the past decade I have won four bronze medals, two silvers and the gold at the Asian Indoor Games,” he added.
“We [the UAE] also qualified for the World Cup twice, so you can say I’ve done a lot of things in my career. But I’m not done yet. I think it’s easy to become complacent from the success you’ve had but I don’t believe in looking back to see what I have done... I only want to look ahead and see what more I can accomplish, for myself and my country.”
