UAE’s cuiests poised to reap gold at Arab Billiards Championships

UAE’s cueists are in line for a golden harvest at the 8^th Arab Billiards Championship being held at Dubai Police Officers’ Sports Club.

Amin Fikree beat Mohammed Al Hossani in an all-UAE 8-ball pool singles final on Tuesday to clinch the gold and silver medals in this category.

With Omran Salem making progress in the 9-ball pool event and teenage prodigy Khalid Al Kamali qualifying to the knockout phase of the 8-ball pool Under-21 competition, hosts UAE are assured of a bagful of medals in this championships being held here for the first time.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Algeria, Morocco and Libya are competing in this championship conducted by the Arab Federation for Billiards and Snooker and organised by the UAE Billiards and Snooker Association.

UAE are fielding two teams in the tournament which consists of 8-ball and 9-ball singles, doubles and a team competition in addition to 8-ball and 9-ball Under-21 singles.

Al Hossani leads the UAE ‘A’ comprising Omran Salem and Khalid Sbeeta while the UAE ‘B’ consists of Fikri, Ismail Yaqoob and Hani Al Hoori.

Veteran cueist Al Hossani, 30, had a great run in the double elimination round 8-ball singles which attracted 42 entries, qualifying to the semifinals from the winner’s bracket where he defeated Lebanon’s Mohammed Berjawi 7-2. He thumped his rivals 6-4 6-1 6-1 while compatriot Fikri won 6-4 6-3 6-3 to meet in the top half of the draw.

Al Hossani prevailed 7-2 over Fikri who bounced back by defeating Kuwait’s Abdullah Al Yusuf 7-4 in the Loser’s quarter-final and beat Berjawi 7-4 in the semifinal.

Fikri avenged his earlier loss to Al Hossani by winning the gold medal contest 8-4. Fikri raced to a 4-0 lead giving no chance whatsoever to his rival this time with a flawless performance. Al Hossani closed the gap to 6-3 but Fikri prevailed with luck smiling in his favour.

“It was a great final. I’m happy because I lost to a UAE player. I want our team to be on top in this championships,” Al Hossani told Emirates 24|7 having no regrets whatsoever of missing out on the gold medal.

“Amin Fikri played very well from the opening day of the tournament he played very well. He played perfect. Mohammed Al Hossani also played well,” said UAE’s Filipino coach Joven Alba who was not surprised that these two players came to the final.

“We trained for more than a year for this championship and GCC tournament. I was expecting them to do well in the 8-ball pool singles,” said Alba who took over 18 months ago after having coached Kuwait for eight years.

UAE won four gold medals in the GCC tournament (8-ball and 9-ball) held in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

Omran Salem, UAE’s representative in the 9-ball singles which has also attracted 42 competitors, qualified to the semifinals from the top half of the winner’s bracket beating his rivals 7-3 7-4 7-1 and a titanic ‘final’ 8-7 before losing to Omar Shaheen 8-6 in the winner’s bracket semifinals. He will get another chance to enter the final from the loser’s bracket on Wednesday.

“I’m very happy with our performance. I’m expecting more gold medals in the team event,” said Alba.

Khalid Al Kamali qualified to the last four of the Under-21 8-ball singles event in a closely contested group B where three of the six players had three wins each.

The UAE player qualified by virtue of a winning an extra frame during his 5-3 loss in the final group match against Iraq’s Eman Adnan whose only loss was against Mohammed Sufi of Syria 5-2. Al Kamali had beaten the Syrian earlier 5-2. Adnan needed to beat Al Kamali 5-2 to qualify to the knockout round. The Iraqi player clawed his way back from 2-0 down to win 5-3 but could not secure a place in the next round with Adnan topping the group and Al Kamali finishing second.

In the other group, UAE’s Abdulla Juma notched a solitary victory 5-3 against Iraq’s Ali Jaleel but lost the other three matches.

“Abdulla Juma is new. This is his first international tournament. Khalid won a silver in the Arab tournament held in Syria last year and has now qualified to the semifinals,” said Alba.