The spacious ballroom of the Fujairah Concorde Hotel has been selected as the venue for the Second West Asian Billiards and Snooker Championship from 14-20 January 2012.
High Participation
The number of participating countries in the upcoming Second West Asian Championships has received a boost and has now gone up to thirteen with the late entries submitted by Lebanon, ensuring a 100 per cent representation of the region in the event.
This was announced by the UAE Billiards & Snooker Association Secretary-General Sultan Al Joakar (pictured in centre) at a well-attended press conference on Tuesday at the Concorde Fujairah Hotel, the venue for the tournament.
Apparel Group Chairman Nilesh Ved (left) and Mohamed Fekry (right), General Manager of the Concorde Fujairah Hotel also addressed the press conference in their capacity as sponsor and host of the tournament.
60+ Contestants
The championships being sponsored by Club Apparel will see more than 60 top players from the 13 West Asian nations compete for the gold medals in the snooker singles, snooker team and the 8- and 9-ball pool singles events.
The participating countries are Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen and the hosts United Arab Emirates.
Fine Emirati Players
Sultan Al Joakar, conveying his thanks to Club Apparel for sponsoring the championships, told the media that UAE have two very good players in Mohammed Shehab and Mohammed Al Joakar, who have served the country very well for many years.
"It will not be an easy outing for us," he said, adding: "The competition at this level of the sport is getting tougher and tougher with the passage of time.
"We are not expecting any easy games and we are not going to take the things lightly as well. Players from the Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain and Syria have all improved a lot over the past few years.
"The UAE won the snooker top honours at the inaugural West Asian Championships in Saudi Arabia last year, which makes us the pre-tournament favourites but this can put players under pressure as well.”
"We have seasoned campaigners like Mohammed Shehab and Mohammed Al Joaker and hopefully they will deliver the goods."
Strong Field
The Iranians are likely to put up a tough challenge having in their ranks the reigning world amateur champion Hossein Vafaei Ayouri. Iraq and Bahrain are both fresh from capturing a gold medal apiece at the 2011 Arab Games in Doha and Syria are also capable to springing surprises in any given encounter.
The members of the UAE snooker team for the West Asian Championships are Eissa Ali Sayed, Salem Ali Salem, Khalid Kamali, Ahmed Abdul Qader, Abdur Rahman Saif and Abdullah Al Attar. The members of the UAE pool squad are Salah Al Rimawi, Hani Al Hori, Ali Saeed and Amin Fikri.
This Press Release was written by Hanif Hassan.
Image: Apparel Group Chairman Nilesh Ved (left), UAE Billiards & Snooker Association Secretary-General Sultan Al Joakar (pictured in centre) and Mohamed Fekry (right), General Manager of the Concorde Fujairah Hotel.
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