Egypt has maintained her dominance in Snooker as Hatem Yassen secured the title for the second time in his career in a dramatic title match that came down to the final black of the deciding frame.
The All-African Snooker Championship organised by the African Billiards & Snooker Confederation (ABSC) is the flagship of an event that also featured Women’s, Seniors and 6-red competitions which held from 12-21 August in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Yassen stormed through the initial group stage without dropping a single frame against opponents from the host nation and Mozambique, before overcoming Farhad Sayfoo from Mauritius 4-2 in the first knockout round.
Victory in a dramatic deciding frame against host nation cueist Mervyn Donnely saw Yassen book his place in the quarter-finals where he then comfortably whitewashed Mozambique’s Mahomed Idrisse to reach the last four.
African Seniors Championship runner-up Mutalieb Allie put up a strong fight in their semi-final contest, but Yassen once again proved too strong as he ran out a 5-3 victor to set up an all-Egyptian final against Shaheen.
Shaheen had also topped his initial group before defeating Graeme Britten, Omar Ramy, South African national champion Michael Davids and Kiashan Moodley to reach the final.
The best-of-11 frame title match was a dramatic contest that ultimately came down to the very last ball and it was Yassen who was able to pull out a stunning pot on the black to take the title and secure a nomination to return to the professional tour this season.
Nigeria players did not participate the the All-African Snooker Championship because Snooker is not regarded as a sport by the Ministry of Sports and it does not feature in the National Sports Festival as it is only available in the few exclusive clubs available in Nigeria.
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