UAE cueists put up gutsy show

Mohamed Shehab’s brilliant run in the Selangor Open in Kuala Lumpur finally came to a halt in the semi-finals when he suffered a 6-1 loss at the hands of Imtiaz Serwer of Pakistan in the seven-nation event during the weekend. The other UAE cueist taking part in the tournament, Mohammed Al Joaker, went down fighting to Elvin Lean of Malaysia after he was edged 5-4 in the last 16 round encounter. Shehab, a former Asian Indoor Games gold medallist, was in a great touch when he defeated KL Tan of Malaysia 5-3 in the last 16 round. The Abu Dhabi ace carried the same form into the quarter-finals where he gunned down high-flying Malaysian Roslan Yurnalis 5-3 to enter the semi-finals of the event, which saw a total of 48 players participate. Shehab, whose 117-point break scored in the first round continues to be the highest of the tournament, could not play to the best of his potential against Serwer, to whom he had lost 3-2 in the first round, round robin stage as well. The earlier upshot had also put Shehab under some amount of pressure before the semifinal, but it was basically his safety that let him down on Friday afternoon. Shehab said in a telephone interview after the match: “Without taking away anything away from him, it was my own mistakes that cost me the match. “His safety worked very well today and he was able to push me into situations where I was forced to mistakes. I simply couldn’t get the cue ball close enough to the cushions to make things difficult for him. Throughout the tournament, I was able to score easily but today Serwer simply did not give me any chance. I need to work more on my safety when I return to the practice table”. Meanwhile, the three-member UAE squad left Dubai for Doha to participate in the 2012 World 9-ball Pool Championship. The players representing the UAE are 2012 West Asian Championship gold medallist Hanni Al Howri, Salah Al Rimawi and Ali Saeed Al Suwaidi. The manager of the team is Saeed Al Marri. From Khaleejtimes