CUE SPORTS – BAHRAINI snooker star Habib Subah won the opening round of the 2024-25 WPBSA Q Tour Middle East series, which was hosted by the kingdom.
Forty cueists representing eight countries took part in the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) event. It was the first of three Q Tour competitions in the region, with the others set to take place in the UAE in July and Saudi Arabia in October and November.
The top two ranked players at the end of the third round will book their tickets to the Q Tour Global Play-Offs, where three World Snooker Tour cards will be on offer.
Subah claimed his first-ever Q Tour title at home after defeating Ismail Türker of Turkey 4-1 in the Bahrain final. He had earlier outplayed Omar Ramy of Egypt 4-0 in the semis, during which he scored the tournament high break of 105.
Previously, Subah beat Ali Jalil of Iraq 4-1 in the round of eight, and in the last 16 won 4-3 against Kusai Sharif of Libya after defeating fellow-Bahraini Hesham Alsaqer 3-0 in the round of 32. Subah got his campaign underway with a 3-0 win against Aziz Alhalwaki, also of Bahrain, in the round of 64.
He finished third in the Q Tour Middle East ranking list last season, narrowly missing out on a place in the global play-offs. Iranian Amir Sarkhosh and Emirati Mohamed Shehab were the ones to qualify. With the Bahrain results, Subah has taken an early lead in the Q Tour Middle East ranking list.
Also taking part in the Q Tour Middle East Bahrain event were Khalil Busaif, who made it to the quarter-finals; Abdulla Mejairan and Munther Albasri, who were both eliminated in the last 16; Majed Dhaif, Ahmed Alhayki, Ebrahim Alsaadi, Younis Saqer, Hamid Dhaif, Ashoor Mohammed, Hamad Alali, and Mohammed Ajlan, who lost in the round of 32; and Ali Alnaar in the round of 64.
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