Qatar has mixed day at Asian 6-Red, Arora begins in style

India’s Shivam Arora in action against Hong Kong’s Lee Chun Wai during their round robin match in the Asian Snooker 6-Red Championship at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation hall in Mansoura yesterday; (below) Qatar’s Ali Obaidly lines up to pot a red against Mongolia Geleg Tagaan.

By Mikhil Bhat/Doha

It was a first for both Ahmed Saif and Shivam Arora. While Saif was playing his first match in a competition after becoming Qatar’s first professional snooker player last week, Arora was playing his first match on the international circuit in six years.

Doha’s first ever Asian Snooker 6-Red Championship was up for a cracking start at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation facility in Mansoura.

Arora, the 26-year-old from India eventually beat the Qatari 5-2; perhaps, his experience as Indian number one and being the national champion in the category helping him.

It was also nostalgic for the man from the eastern Indian city of Patna considering he played his first international tournament in the very hall he won yesterday in.

“It was the 2007 Under-21 Asian Snooker Championship. I was Indian number three then,” Arora told Gulf Times.

But a few hours later, things got a little tight for Arora, who was up against Lee Chun Wai of Hong Kong. After taking a comfortable 3-0 lead, Arora missed a couple of pots to hand Wai the lifeline.

Wai’s confidence grew as he took the fifth frame with a single 47-point break. Three games later the scores were tied at 4-4.

The ninth and the deciding game, however, was a different story. The scoreboard read 59-0 to give Arora his second victory of the day.

“I was leading 3-0 and I missed two easy balls… it could have been an easy match for me. The table was playing really well but I was really nervous. In the end, I am just happy that I scraped through,” he said.

After his match against Wai, Arora waited in the corner with his gaze set at a table in the other end of the room. His 21-year-old teammate Laxman Singh Rawat had managed to blow in some unwanted excitement in the deciding frame when he missed potting the last black ball with the score reading 30-31 in favour of Qatar’s Bashar Hussain.

Hussain missed it too and couple of shots later, Rawat potted the ball for the match.

“He is a really good friend and a teammate as well. I was definitely excited seeing him play so well. In the end, I guess he got nervous too. He definitely has a tougher group too,” Arora said about Rawat.

Rawat, meanwhile, was happy about his performance but was visibly shaken from the close match. “I was in full pressure. I was down 4-2. I made it 4-4 but then he (Hussain) made a 22-point break which again put me under pressure. But then I made it bit by bit,” he said. “The black ball, I got up a bit while hitting so I missed it. But I eventually made it.”

Qatar’s Mosen Bukshaisha posted the first win for the home team in the tournament when he beat Kuwait’s Mubarak Alowats 5-4.

Qatar’s Ali Obaidly ran through his match against Mongolia’s Geleg Tagaan 5-1. Obaidly’s brother Khamis, however, lost 1-5 to Kuwait’s Ammar Mored Taqi.