Shehab looking to win bigger battles ahead
UAE champion shifts focus to Asian Championships after landing inaugural Dubai Snooker crown
UAE National Champion Mohammad Shehab is already looking forward to stronger challenges ahead after winning the inaugural 2017 Dubai Snooker Tournament that concluded at the Dubai Snooker Club earlier this week.
Shehab made full use of his superior experience to secure a 5-0 win against Abdul Rahman Al Saife’e to win the tournament that was sponsored by Chocolate Advertising LLC.
With arch-rival and good friend Mohammad Al Joker going out early in the competition, Shehab did well to take an early 2-0 lead with breaks of 66 and 51 in the best of nine frames final. In the third frame he met some resistance as he trailed his younger opponent. “But I was confident with my experience of having played so many finals and winning so many titles in the past. In contrast, this was just the second national-level final for Abdul Rahman,” Shehab told Gulf News.
After winning a close third frame 53-43, Shehab went on to register breaks of 38 and 35 in the last two frames to wrap up the match in an emphatic manner. “The key for me in a final of this nature was to get ahead at the start itself, and Final of the 2017 First Dubai Snooker Tournament sponsored by Chocolate Advertising LLC: Mohammad Shehab bt Abdul Rahman Saife’e 5-0 (85-9; 81-8; 53-43; 67-18; 55-10). that helped immensely,” Shehab said.
“The third frame was truly tactical not just due to the intensity but because I was waiting for him to make a mistake, and he did,” he added.
That mistake proved crucial as Shehab made a clearance of the yellow and then powered ahead to win the last two frames with ease.
Important competition
The next challenge before Shehab and the UAE national squad of Al Joker, Khalid Al Kamali [who fell in the semifinal] and Eisa Al Sayyed is the 33rd Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports (ACBS) Men’s Snooker Championships that are scheduled to be held in neighbouring Doha from April 22-28.
The national team will start an in-house training camp for a couple of weeks to kick-start their preparations for the tournament in Qatar. “I really cannot say that this tournament was the ideal preparation for an important competition like an Asian Championships as we have a month to go still,” Shehab observed.
“The next couple of weeks are going to be crucial for all of us as we get back into some tougher competition for the Asian Championships,” he added.