Al Joaker on song; Shehab suffers stunning loss

UAE's snooker ace Mohammed Al Joaker returned to the green baize on Sunday evening with all guns blazing to rout Pierre Jordaan of South 4-0 in his second Group U match at the 2012 IBSF World Snooker Championship in Sofia.

The emphatic victory has carried Al Joaker to the top of the group table.

Jpwever, UAE No. 1 Mohamed Shehab suffered a shock 4-3 defeat at the hands of little-known Muhammad Faaris of South Africa despite scoring fine breaks of 107 and 65 in his second Group R game.

Al Joaker put on a splendid show of his potting skills as he scored brilliant breaks 92, 72 and 70 to romp home 92-0, 71-15, 75-0 and 84-7.

The match between Shehab, a semifinalist in 2007, and Faaris was an engrossing battle.

Shehab lost the first frame 51-83, but won a tactical battle 69-23 in the next to even the score 1-1. Faaris wrested the initiative once by grabbing the third 77-48 to leave Shehab trailing again.

The UAE snooker stalwart hit back once again and produced a break of 107 to take the fourth frame 136-4.

Faaris continued to put up the fight and pipped Shehab 70-51 in the close fifth, but the experienced UAE player forced another tie at 3-3 with the help of a run of 65 points that gave him the sixth frame 108-5.

In the deciding seventh frame, Shehab seemed to have gained an upper hand but a minor miscue opened the way for Faaris to steal the frame 62-37 and claim a 4-3 win.

Meanwhile, Peter Gilchrist of Singapore raised the bar in the race for the highest break honours by scoring a 133 during his 4-1 victory over Gary Wilson of England on Sunday.