UAE cueists stay in the hunt despite losses in Asian snooker

Al Joaker and Shehab were in control but faltered towards the end of their respective games in Qatar.

Mohammed Al Joaker came up short against Afghanistan Rais Senzahi.

DOHA // Mohammed Al Joaker, suffered a setback last night at the 2012 Asian Snooker Championship.

The fourth seed was trailing Afghanistan’s Rais Senzahi 3-2 but gained a massive lead in the sixth frame that left his opponent needing three snookers.

However, the Afghan got the penalty points he needed and then went on to clear the table to take the match.

Al Joaker had a 4-1 victory over Bahrain’s Habib Subah on Sunday and despite his second first round loss, Al Joaker is still in contention for a place in the last 16 of a competition that has attracted 52 players from 23 countries.

A single mistake proved costly for Mohamed Shehab, the UAE's other representative at the championships.
Shehab had fought back from 3-1 down against Alan Lin of Hong Kong, helped by a brilliant break of 70 in the sixth frame.

The eighth seed then had the momentum going into the seventh frame with his opponent showing signs of nerves. And he looked on course to take the decider until he lost position on the pink and allowed Lin to steal the frame and the match.

Shehab, who had beaten Qatar's experienced Mohsin Aziz 4-1 on Saturday, is still on track to progress from the round robin stage of the tournament.
* Agency