Mohamed Shehab Dominates Third Q Tour Middle East Event
A dominant Mohamed Shehab dropped just a single frame as he stormed to the Q Tour Middle East event three title on home soil in Abu Dhabi.
Shehab had suffered disappointment in the previous event, leading Amir Sarkhosh 3-0 in the final before the Iranian staged a comeback to secure a 4-3 victory and back-to-back titles in the series.
This appeared to be quickly forgotten, however, as Shehab whitewashed fellow countrymen Ali Albahadra and Ali Al-Ameri in the first two rounds to set up a quarter-final meeting with event one runner-up Habib Humood.
The Emirati player entered into the last eight encounter in excellent form, having swept aside his opponent in the previous round with breaks of 115, 75 and 95, and Bahrain’s Humood proved no match for Shehab as he secured a third consecutive whitewash victory.
The top half of the draw had opened up early into the event following a surprise 3-0 defeat for the previously undefeated Sarkhosh at the hands Ahmed Alzaabi in the first round.
Alzaabi subsequently fell to a 4-0 defeat to Syria’s Yazan Alhaddad, who followed this up with victories over Moa’ath Almajali and Omar Alhaji to book his place in a first final of the series.
There he would meet Shehab, who had earned his spot in the title match with comfortable 4-1 semi-final win over Turkey’s Ismail Türker.
The final took place on Wednesday afternoon and Shehab immediately put himself in charge of the contest with a break of 70 in the opening frame. A further break of the same total in frame three put him one away from the title and this time Shehab would make no mistake as he secured the crown with a 4-0 victory.
This brings to an end the inaugural Q Tour Middle East series and, with success in two of the three events, Sarkhosh ends the campaign in top position in the rankings while event three champion Shehab finishes in second place.
