The Arab region’s top-ranked female billiards player, Bahraini dentist Dr Nahla Al Sunni continued on her trailblazing ways when she nabbed gold and silver medals in the 2023 Arab Billiards and Snooker Championship in Riyadh.
The 32-year-old has dominated the sport in the kingdom for more than a decade and won four gold medals in international competitions last year, two each at the first-ever Arab Billiards and Snooker Federation Cup in Cairo, Egypt, and the Arab Billiards and Snooker Championship which was held in the kingdom.
And she added to her tally over the weekend just past, winning the 10-ball competition in Riyadh and being awarded a silver in the nine-ball contest.
“It was a good feeling to win gold and silver at the Arab Championship,” Dr Al Sunni told the GDN in an exclusive interview yesterday upon her return from Riyadh. “If not for some mistakes on my part – and my opponent being extremely lucky – I could have won two golds, instead of just one.”
Dr Al Sunni won gold in the 10-ball competition, defeating her Saudi opponent in the final with ease after having swept the competition aside in the earlier rounds.
“It was a very competitive final,” she said. “Lara, my opponent, was very good but I prevailed.
“In 10-ball, you have to decide which ball goes into which pocket. It’s not tricky like nine-ball.”
And, it was in the final of the nine-ball competition that Dr Al Sunni came up short, after having disposed of her earlier opponents with ease.
“It was partly my own fault,” she laughed. “I made a few mistakes. And my Kuwaiti opponent, Minal, was also quite lucky when she won the final, 5-3, because she won two of the frames purely by chance.
“Like I said, nine-ball is tricky. For example, if you hit number two and it collides with number nine and sends it into the pocket, you win the frame. That’s what happened to Minal on two frames and she won both.
“But I also made a couple of mistakes. Also, it was a very long day. The semi-final was supposed to begin as 6pm but, because of a power breakdown, actually began at 9pm – and the final at 11pm.
“Still, I’m not making excuses. I’ve learnt from my mistakes and will seek to do even better in upcoming tournaments.”
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