Magnificient Eissa puts UAE A into semifinals

There was no mistaking the joy on the faces of the UAE A team as they booked a place in the semifinals of the third Emarat international snooker tournament after posting their third successive victory at the Dubai Snooker Club.

It is not to take the edge from their accomplishment to point out that the home side scraped past Singapore 2-1, but credit must go to number three player Eissa Sayed who clinched victory with yet another heroic performance.

The evidence of the UAE's full scale competitiveness was there for all to see in Sayed's marathon 4-3 win over Lim Chun Kiat after the other two matches in this Group A contest were halved.

UAE No. 1 Mohammed Shehab rallied strongly to beat Sang Boon Chin 4-2 while Singapore's leading cueist Keith Boon accounted for Mohamed Al Joker 4-1.

Meanwhile the battle for the second qualifying slot burst wide open as Asian powerhouse Thailand handed Pakistan their first defeat in three matches.

With two wins apiece both Pakistan and Thailand are in contention for the last four stage of the tournament. To qualify Pakistan must beat UAE A in their final league match today but Thailand will only qualify if they beat Singapore and Pakistan lose to the hosts.

In Group B Malaysia whitewashed Hong Kong to also qualify for the semifinals with three wins from three matches. The result did not hurt Hong Kong who had already qualified on Friday when they won their third league match.

Eissa Sayed looks a pro shouldering the team's responsibility, having thrice won the nerve-wracking decider to secure a UAE victory.

Focus is the vogue word that seems to have replaced concentration and is something Eissa does best when in a tight situation. Which is how he once again found himself when playing Singapore's Lim Chun Kait.

The players traded frames at the start of the match before Kait raised his game a couple of notches to win the subsequent two frames to move into what looked like a match-winning position at 3-1 up.

But Eissa clearly produces his best when under pressure and suddenly their were reasons for his teammates to be cheerful as he rolled in breaks of 57 and 34 to level frames and push the match into the decider.

His spirit roused Eissa took the fight to his opponent but played a risky red when there was not much benefit for attempting the shot, which he missed.

Kiat returned to the table to build a 40 point lead before he in turn missed a red to throw Eissa a lifeline, which he willing grabbed to take control of the frame and clear the last few reds.

The Abu Dhabi-based player then proceeded to control the safety exchange on the colours as he embarked on a clearance before missing the pink. Kiat potted the colour and with the scores reading 55-53 in Eissa's favour it was all down to the black.

Then in pindrop silence the UAE player found a long pocket to clinch victory as the crowd erupted into celebration.

"He's most dangerous when he's two frames down, and he played some remarkable snooker to win the match," said UAE coach Nic Barrow. "It augurs well for his confidence and further development as a player."