Ali Ali Becomes First Q Tour Champion from Iraq
Ali Ali defeated compatriot Emad Adnan 4-1 at the Emirates Billiard Sports Federation in Dubai, UAE to become the first player from Iraq to win a Q Tour title.
The 41-year-old won through a field of 55 cueists from 14 countries to secure the fourth and final Q Tour Middle East event crown of the campaign.
Ali, who had only once made it beyond the last 32 stage of the previous three events this season, made a slow start by falling 2-0 behind to Mohamed Aljoakar before battling back to win a decider with a top break of 63.
More comfortable successes against Mohammadreza Rafieyan (3-1) and fellow countryman Abdullah Falah Ghadhban (4-1) followed to put Ali into his second quarter-final of the campaign.
The eventual champion then confirmed his best run of the series with a 4-2 victory against Egypt’s Ahmed Samir to set up an all-Iraqi semi-final against Ali Jaleel.
Jaleel had lost in each of the first two Q Tour Middle East finals of the campaign and would end the season at the top of the series ranking list, but he was denied a hat-trick of title matches as Ali hit a top break of 78 to win the contest in a deciding frame.
Adnan awaited him in the final after he had also battled through a final frame shoot out in the last four against Bahrain’s Hesham Alsaqer.
Ali started the best-of-seven frame strongly, taking the opener with help from a contribution of 32 and quickly doubling his advantage.
His opponent briefly rallied to halve the deficit, but Ali pulled away once more at 3-1 before getting over the line in a tense fifth frame on the final pink to win his maiden Q Tour crown.
The Q Tour Global Play-Offs take place in Gandia, Spain on 15-17 March. Further information will be announced in due course.
