Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

GCC Billiards and Snooker Championship 2019 begins

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MUSCAT, NOV 28 - The GCC Billiards and Snooker Championship 2019 made a rousing start at the Levatio Hotel, Muscat, on Thursday with full turnout from each of the GCC countries.


Mubarak al Khayarin, president of the International Federation of Billiards and Snookers, said it is exciting to be in Oman for the tournament.


“There are many high level players in this tournament. The tournament is 17 years old and I think it is great for the tournament to be finally here in Oman. We have been waiting for this a long time. The tournament has been well organised and in the future we could conduct Asian or international level tournament in Oman,” said Al Khayarin. The international official said the GCC players are already participating at Asian and World level tournament.


The day began with the GCC Men’s Snooker Singles which will continue until December 1.


GOOD WIN FOR TAHA


Oman player Taha Bashir posted a fine 4-0 win against Abdullah Kandari of Kuwait.


In other matches, Habib Subah (Bahrain) blanked Mohanna al Obaidli (Qatar) 4-0, Saud Abdul Razzaq (Kuwait) edged Abdullah al Raisi (Oman) 4-3, Khalid al Kamali (UAE) thrashed Abdullah al Atiani (Saudi Arabia) 4-0, Nawaf al Otaibi (Saudi Arabia) went down against Ali al Obaidli (Qatar) 0-4 and Khaleel Bosaif (Bahrain) edged Mohamed al Joakar (UAE) 4-3.


“For Bahrain national team, we began to prepare for this tournament two weeks back and I think our players are ready to compete and win,” said Monther al Basri, captain of Bahrain.


Captain of Kuwait billiards team, Abdullah Yousef said they have as a team of 10 players — five for billiards and five for snookers.


In billiards 8 Ball Singles quarterfinals, Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah al Shimmari beat Salah al Remawi (UAE) 7-4, while Ibrahim al Qaid (Bahrain) edged out Abdul Rehman al Ammar (KSA) 7-6, Waleed Majed (Qatar) beat Ahmed al Delaimi (Kuwait) 7-5, Badar al Awaidhi scored a comfortable 7-2 win over Abdullah Essa (Bahrain).


SEMIFINALS TODAY


In the semifinals on Friday, Abdullah al Shimmari (Saudi Arabia) will take on Ibrahim al Qaid (Bahrain) and Waleed Majed (Qatar) meet Badar al Awadhi (Kuwait) at 2 pm at Levatio Hotel, Muscat.


“For me the first day everything is hectic and from the second day on everything falls into place. We have 14 events in 10 days and our scheduling has made it possible,” Shohaib Khan, Tournament Director of the GCC Championship, said.


“We have now 66 players competing in this GCC Billiard and Snooker Championship. There are 14 referees supervising the snooker matches and 12 referees supervising billiards matches from different countries,” explained Shohaib Khan.


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