Mohammed Al Joaker in last 16

Second seed Mohammed Al Joaker marched into the last 16 round of the Rosy Blue UAE Snooker Ranking Circuit’s third event after registering a convincing 4-2 victory over Ahmed Abdulqader on Sunday night at the Dubai Snooker Club. Also showing form in Sunday night’s last 32 round encounters was veteran Altaf Noor Rashed, who routed Tareq Mattar 4-1. Rashed takes on in-form Mohammed Hussain in his next match. Englishman Darren Taylor had a tough time taming Morocco No. 1 Chaouki Yousufi 4-3 in their last 32 round battle. Marwan Ibrahim, hoping for a place on the UAE national snooker team at the end of the event, also struggled against Mubarak Al Suawaidi on Sunday night before going through to the last 16 stage with the help of a close 4-3 victory. Marwan meets Taylor on Tuesday evening. Al Joaker was under a lot of pressure at the start of his match against Abdulqader, the man who had beaten him at the quarter-final stage of the first tournament. The opening frame was a low-scoring but close affair which was eventually won by Al Joaker. Abdulqader did put up a fight and made things difficult for Al Joaker in every frame but still failed to prevent his opponent from scoring a fine 4-2 victory. The tough game should prove to be a good tune-up for Al Joaker for his last 16 round battle with talented Abdur Rahman Saif on Tuesday night. While Saif, runner-up at the first ranking event in February, had been a bit rusty in his last 32 round match on Saturday night, missing some easy pots, he remains fully capable of making things tough for Al Joaker. Al Joaker, runner-up at the second tournament in March, is keen to hold to on to his No. 2 spot in the national rankings, but can expect some grueling battles in the lead up to the final, which is scheduled place on Saturday afternoon. Earlier during the weekend, local Young Turks ruled the roost on the third day of the last 32 round battles. Mohammed Hussain was in dominating form as he whitewashed Shaker Mahmoodi 4-0 to storm into the last 16 stage of the tournament. Khalid Kamali played brilliantly to rout veteran Abdul Aziz Al Rais 4-1 and book himself a place in the last 16 round. Abdur Rahman Saif, the runner-up in the first ranking event of the year in February, had to struggle against Shabbir Hussain but eventually went through to the next round with a 4-2 victory. Former Pakistan international Mohammad Shafiq also played well to hammer Mohammed Mubarak 4-0 in his last 32 round clash on Saturday night. The young Kamali was the most impressive of the lot as he tamed former UAE national team player Al Rais after conceding the first frame. Al Rais did try his best to put his vast experience to use but Kamali made light of the difficult shots and potted with confidence to grab four frames on the trot to win the match. Saif, another young member of the UAE national snooker squad, was erratic with his potting and had a tough time against Hussain. Saif was pushed into tight corners by Hussain time and again mainly because he miscued easy pots on numerous occasions. With the score tied at 2-2. Saif was forced to shift his game into a higher gear to take the fifth and sixth frame and salvage a 4-2 victory.