Qatar’s challenge comes to an end at World Snooker

Qatar’s challenge came to an end at the 2016 IBSF World Snooker Championships at the Al Sadd arena yesterday. Six local cueists out of seven had entered the last-78 knockout stage but only Mhanaa al-Obaidli could progress into last-64.However, Mhanaa went on to lose to Michael Collumb of Scotland 4-0 in the last-64 match, also played yesterday, ending the local interest in the tournament. Earlier, in the match between siblings, Mhanaa had beaten Ali 4-1 in a last-78 clash.The other Qatar players fared poorly yesterday. Mohsen Bukshaisha lost to Ang Boon Chin of Singapore 1-4, while Khamis Alobaidli was beaten by Egypt’ Basem Eltahhan by the same margin. But it was Ahmed Saif, who would be most disappointed after losing to Andrew Pagett of Wales 3-4 in a close match. Saif, four years ago, had made history by becoming the first snooker player from Qatar to turn professional. But after joining the world stage on a two-year Tour card, he had to drop out at the end of 2015. The 33-year-old was Qatar’s best hope at the World Championship in Doha, and he looked in control of his match against Pagett in the beginning. Saif took a 2-0 lead after winning the first two frames but allowed Pagett to take the next three. Saif bounced back to win the sixth frame, but Pagett won the decisive seventh frame 72-43. Meanwhile, defending champion Pankaj Advani of India thrashed Sean Corkishof Isle of Man 4-0 to enter the last-32. Advani, the 15-time world champion, in both Snooker and Billiards, won this title last year in Egypt. He dominated Corkish from the word go and also registered a break of 126 in the fourth frame. The other Indians had a good day as well. Manan Chandra beat Felix Frede of Germany 4-2, while Lucky Vatnani had to work hard in his win over Mohamed Reza Hassan of Malaysia 4-3. Pakistan’s former world champion Mohamed Asif won his match against Ryan Thomerson of Australia 4-2.Meanwhile, Issara Kachaiwong of Thailand hit a maximum 147 points in a frame in his 4-0 thrashing of Peter McCullagh of Australia.Kachaiwong started up with a long red pot in top pocket and after that he sliced up each red precisely with a combination of black followed by the colours to carry through the last black and claimed the maximum. He also made a century break of 108 points in the third frame.The last-32 will be played today and will be a best of 9 frames match. Over 250 players from 55 countries are competing in the IBSF World Snooker championship, which is being held concurrently for men, women and masters. The 10-day tournament will end on Tuesday. A total of $16,000 is up for grabs in the men’s event of the championship, being hosted for the first time in the GCC. The women’s event carries a $6,000 purse while $8,000 is at stake for the master players. The winner of the championship highest break in the men’s category will receive $500 cash reward plus certificate. For women, the highest break will fetch $200 and for the masters’ $300.