SNOOKER – BAHRAIN’S top-ranked snooker star Habib Sabah presented the first gold medal to the kingdom in the Arab Billiards and Snooker Championship being hosted by the Jordan Billiards and Snooker Federation at the Landmark Hotel and Conference Centre in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Sabah defeated UAE’s Mohammed Shehab by six games to four in the final of the 6-ball competition to gift the first gold on the 52nd anniversary of the National Day.
Shehab got off to a great start winning the first two games before Sabah found his touch and won the next three games to surge ahead 3-2.
Both players tried to capitalise on the others’ mistakes with Sabah excelling on more than one occasion with his experience and capabilities that contributed to achieving superiority over Shehab, which was reflected in the morale of the Bahraini, who played some of his best matches in the tournament to go 4-2 up.
The battling Shehab succeeded in winning the next two games to level the score to 4-all, after which the Bahraini champion again fought back to take the match with a score of 6-4.
After defeating Iraqi player Hisham Falah in the first round, Sabah played the quarter-final match against another Iraqi, Omar Mohammed, and managed to win 5-3, before defeating Jordan’s Khaled Diabat 5-2 in the semi-final, to set up the championship clash against Shehab.
Meanwhile, in the women’s competition, national team player Nahla Al Sunni began the journey of defending her title as Arab champion in the 9-ball competition, by defeating Saudi Arabia’s Rehab Yahya 5-1, due to her great experience, and moving into the second round of the championship.
Al Sunni is waiting today for a set of matches in the competition, starting with the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, the other national team player Mai Al Dosari lost to Saudi Arabia’s Lara Al Zanan 5-2 in an absorbing match.
In the men’s competition, national team players Ibrahim Al Qaed and Mohammed Al Fahal bid farewell to the championship, after losing their first round matches.
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