The UAE trio of Salah Al Rimawi, Amin Fikri and Mohammad Al Hosani put on a fine show today to capture the 8-Ball pool team gold medal at the Billiards Championship at the Ezone Club in Dubai. Their dominance of the opposition saw the Emirati cueists remain unbeaten throughout the league competition. They overpowered Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the final, all by 3-0 scores. The UAE were made to work hard against Qatar, though, before they could celebrate. Al Hosani defeated Mohammed bin Ali of Qatar 7-3 in his match on the first table, but both Al Rimawi and Fikri went through some anxious moments. The match-up between Al Rimawi and young Ali Alobaidli of Qatar on Table 2 remained close throughout. Al Rimawi took the 8-ball with a brilliant plant shot to make 6-5, but Alobaidli remained unruffled and tied the score 6-6. Al Rimawi kept calm and some calculated pots helped him take the deciding rack to clinch the match for the UAE. Fikri was also having a tough time against Bashar Hussain on Table 3 before he took two racks in a row to record a 7-5 win and give the home team another 3-0 victory in the competition and assured that the gold medal belonged to the UAE. The 9-ball pool singles start tomorrow at the same venue. Meanwhile, in the round robin last-16 stage of the National Day Snooker Championship, the UAE's top-ranked player, Mohammed Shehab, won his first match by handing a 4-0 defeat to Saeed Al Zaabi on Sunday night. <a href="gopher://topicL3RoZW5hdGlvbmFsL1Blb3BsZS9TcG9ydC9VQUUgc3BvcnQvTW9oYW1tZWQgYWwgSm9ha2Vy" inlink="topic::L3RoZW5hdGlvbmFsL1Blb3BsZS9TcG9ydC9VQUUgc3BvcnQvTW9oYW1tZWQgYWwgSm9ha2Vy">Mohammed Al Joaker</a>, the UAE No 2, regained form as he put on a spectacular display to defeat Yahya Al Suwaidi of Abu Dhabi 4-0 in the same group as Shehab. The former Pakistan international Mohammad Shafiq edged the UAE veteran Eissa Ali Sayed 4-3 and young Abdulrahman Saif beat Ahmed Shehab 4-1. The last 16 battles continue at the same venue until Friday night. The final will take place next Monday. sports@thenational.ae Follow us
