The two finalists kept a large crowd engrossed for more than four hours at the Concorde Fujairah hotel as they produced some quality snooker.
Shehab was the first off the mark and he overcame a spirited challenge by his opponent to grab the first two frames.
However, Vafaei hit back with a vengeance to the next two frames in a row to gain a wide 4-2 lead. Shehab did not give in and zeroed in by taking the seventh frame.
The eighth had the balls ideally lined up for Vafaei and he did not balk on the opportunity to capture the frame and the gold medal.
Earlier, Shehab and Vafaei took contrasting routes to the best-of-nine frames final, which was to be played late on Tuesday evening.
Shehab, who had an easy outing against compatriot Mohammed Al Joakar in the quarter-finals, winning 4-1 with ease on Monday night, struggled at the beginning of his semifinal on Tuesday morning before he regained class and cruised to a 4-2 victory over Omar Alkojah of Syria.
Vafaei, a 4-1 winner over Ehsan Hyderi, also from Iran, in Monday night's quarter-finals, breezed through his semifinal on Tuesday morning by handing Qatar's Ahmed Saif a 4-0 whitewash.
Showing nerves, Shehab had trouble in getting his game going against Alkojah. What should have easy pots were missed and despite putting up a tough fight Shehab conceded the opening frame.
There was a remarkable improvement in Shehab's game in the fifth frame and a break of 78 points put him back in the lead again.
With cueing problems sorted out, Shehab maintained an upper hand on his opponent and needed just two small breaks in the sixth frame to exact a revenge of the loss he suffered to Alkojah in the world amateur championship last 16 round in India last month.
On Monday night, teenaged Syrian Mohammed Al Sufi turned the tables on highly fancied Kuwaiti Umar Shaheen in the 9-ball pool singles final to walk away with the gold medal.
The match was a see-sawing battle before Al Sufi grabbed five straight racks to dash his opponent's title dreams. There was some confusion at one point when Shaheen conceded the match, thinking it was a race to nine racks affair. The two players resumed after an explanation was given by the organizing committee.
The snooker team competition gets underway on Wednesday morning at the same venue.
Top players from the 13 West Asian nations are competing for gold medals in the snooker singles, snooker team, 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.
This press release has been written by Hanif Hassan, UAEBSA International.
Take a Look
Some photos of the players are posted in this photo album.
Snooker Draw
The Snooker Singles Knockout Stage Draw has been created with players and their opponents, days and times, right to the final on 17 January at 3pm at the Concorde Fujairah Hotel.
The draw can be downloaded from this link.
Further
UAE Assured of Place in Snooker Finals at Fujairah, FIF, 16 January 2012.
Snooker Progress at Fujairah and the Knockout Stage Draw, FIF, 15 January 2012.
Al Joakar Leads at Second West Asian Snooker Champs at Fujairah Concorde Hotel, FIF, 14 January 2012.
Schedule and Times for West Asian Billiards and Snooker Champs, Fujairah, FIF, 14 January 2012.
Concorde Fujairah Hotel on Cue for International Billiards & Snooker Champs, FIF, 12 January 2012.
13 Countries to Compete in Billiards and Snooker at Fujairah Concorde Hotel, FIF, 10 January 2012.
Geoff Pound
More Fujairah news, resources, info and photos is posted on the Fujairah in Focus Facebook Page.
Images: “UAE star cueist Mohammed Shehab (pictured below) went down fighting 5-3 to reigning world amateur champion Hossein Vafaei (pictured alongside) of Iran in the title showdown of the Club Apparel-sponsored Second West Asian Championships snooker singles to settle for the silver medal on Tuesday evening (17 January 2012).”
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