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BAHRAIN SPORT
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Gulf Daily News Thursday, 16th October 2014
29
Habib eyes top prize in Centenary Cup
n Subah with the Shaikh Mubarak Snooker Championship trophy which he won in Abu Dhabi
BAHRAIN’S top player Habib Subah
Habib starts as one of the leading contenders to win the top prize in the Indian Club
Centenary Snooker Tournament starting on
October 20.
This eagerly awaited snooker gala carries
a prize money of BD1,547, with the winner
pocketing BD700 and the runner-up BD400,
apart from a BD147 prize at stake for the
highest break.
The tournament has attracted top players
from the region apart from India’s No. 4
Mohammed Faisal Khan.
Indian snooker legend and Arjuna Award
winner Arvind Savur, more famously known
as ‘Tornado Fats’ for his hi-speed play, will
be the guest of honour at the finale on October 29.
Habib started playing snooker when he
was 12 under the tutelage of his father, who
is also a keen cueist, and so far has won
many accolades with a third place finish at
the World Amateur Snooker Championship
in 2004 in Holland being the icing on the
cake.
“I liked the game from a very young age. It
By VIJAY MRUTHYUNJAYA
needs good calculating skills, knowledge of
angles, precision in planning and executing.
It is a very charming game almost an art in
itself,” said Habib.
The 31-year-old is presently in the midst
of sharpening his game for the Centenary
Cup and is hopeful of finishing at the top.
“I recently won the Bill and Snook Tournament at Dana Mall and am basically in
good form,” said Habib.
Tough
“The Centenary Cup will be a tough tournament with some of the best players in the
region taking part. There is Faisal Khan as
the top ranked player and Mohammed Saleh
has already proved his class by winning the
Asian Championship last year. So it will be
tough but I’m confident of doing well.”
Habib’s most recent victory was in the
Shaikh Mubarak bin Mohamed Al Nahyan
Tournament in Abu Dhabi.
The soft spoken and down to earth Bahraini raced through the initial rounds and
eventually lifted the title in style beating
Mohammed Hussain 4-0 in the final.
Habib has a best break of 132 which he
achieved in the West Asian Championship a
few years ago and a best of 144 in practice.
“My best achievement so far is finishing
third in the World Amateurs in 2004. It gave
me an opportunity to play on the professional tour the next year,” added Habib.
“But I did not do very well. It was a great
learning experience though and my immediate aim is to do well on the amateur circuit
again and win a wild card.”
Apart from that, Habib was also the Gulf
Champion in 2003, third in Asian Snooker
Championship in 2004 in Jordan, Gulf Pool
9Ball Champion in 2005 and a semi-finalists
in the Thailand Snooker Masters in 2011 to
mention a few.
But Habib is not resting on these laurels
yet. Like a true champion he is setting his
sights on greater glory.
Perhaps the top prize in the upcoming Indian Club Centenary Cup can be a stepping
stone in that direction.
All the best Habib!
Gritty Lara upsets
Lamis in quarters
Indian Club ‘B’
score big win
over Havelock
INDIAN Club ‘B’
scored the biggest victory of the day in the
Indian Club Sevena-side Centenary Cup Cricket
Tournament beating Havelock
by 30 runs.
Batting first, Indian Club
‘B’ raced to 58 for five in their
six overs and then bowled out
Havelock for 28 in 4.1 overs.
Arun claimed two wickets for seven runs and was
declared man-of-the-match in
this Group ‘B’ clash.
Other results:
Group C: Ruby Contracting 17
all out in 6 overs lost to BMMI 23-2
in 4 overs by 4 wickets. Man-of-thematch: Amir of BMMI.
Group D: Awan Red 48-4 in
6 overs (Samir 24*) bt Dadabhai
Travels 30-5 in 6 overs by 18 runs.
Man-of-the-match: Samir.
Group A: Spartans 63-3 in 6
overs (Faisal 24) bt Smashers/Fildex
38-5 in 6 overs by 25 runs. Man-ofthe-match: Rohan of Spartans.
The Centenary Cricket Cup
is co-sponsored by BMMI and
Alba, powered by YK AlMoayyed
(Renault) and sponsored by Trans
Auto Rental, Al Maya International,
Al Nasir Aluminium, Aref Sadeq
Design Consultants, Berger Paints,
Booknow.bh, Mark 7 Advertising,
MH AlMahroos, Orange Garage and
Sportsland.
Indo-Bahrain
Cricket Fest
n Nancy and Sanjana, right, doubles winners. Centre, Viktoria in action in the quarter-finals. Right, Lara makes a return to Lamis
UNSEEDED Lara Biter
of Turkey was the giant-killer yesterday in the
quarter-final round of the
Sixth Bahrain ITF Junior
Tennis Championship at the Bahrain
Tennis Club in Juffair.
The 13-year-old scored an emphatic
6-4, 6-0 victory over second Lamis Alhussein Abdel Aziz of Egypt, three years
her elder and with a ranking of 452, to
book a place in the semi-finals.
Lara, who does not have a ranking, takes on sixth seed Emelie Luisa
Schwarte of Germany in the semi-finals.
Emelie too caused a minor upset as
she fought back brilliantly from a set
down to oust fourth seed Rikeetha Pereira 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Another unseeded player Victoria
Marvayova continued her own giant-killing spree beating seventh seed
Nancy Fawzy of Egypt in another threeset marathon 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
But top seed Sanjana Sudhir of India
had no such trouble as she sailed past
Nariman Abo Bakr, the fifth seed from
Egypt, 6-2, 6-1. She now faces Viktoria
in the semi-finals.
Upsets
There were minor upsets in the boys
quarter-finals too but for top seed Kareem Allaf of Syria it was smooth sailing into the semi-finals.
The 16-year-old with a world ranking
of 345 was leading 6-3, 3-0 when his opponent Mohammed Sabry of Egypt was
forced to retire.
Third seed Neos Eleftherios of Egypt
was the biggest casualty as he fell to fifth
seed Omar Elkadi of Egypt 2-6, 2-6.
Second seed Sherif Makhlouf of
Egypt took his appointed place in the
semi-final with an easy 6-2, 6-1 victory over seventh seed Amer Mohammed
Abdo of Yemen 6-2, 6-1.
Meanwhile, wild card Ammar Alhogbani of the US kept the flag flying for
the underdogs by ousting fourth seed
Kushaan Nath of India 6-2, 6-3.
Results
Boys singles (quarter-finals): Kareem Allaf
(SYR-1) bt Mohammed Sabry (Egy) 6-3 3-0 retired; Omar Elkadi (EGY-5) bt Eleftherios Neos
(Cyp-3) 6-2, 6-2; Ammar Alhogbani (US) bt
Kushaan Nath (Ind-4) 6-2 6-3; Sherif Makhlouf
(Egy-2) bt Amer Mohammed Abdo (YEM-7)
6-2 6-1. Girls singles (quarter-finals): Sanjana
Sudhir (Ind-1) bt Nariman Abo Bakr (Egy-5)
6-2 6-1; Viktoria Morvayova (Svk)bt Nancy Fawzy (Egy-7) 3-6 6-4 6-2; Emelie Luisa
Schwarte (Ger-6] bt Rikeetha Pereira (Ind-4)
4-6 6-2 6-0; Lara Biter (Tur) bt Lamis Alhussein
Abdel Aziz (Egy-2) 6-4 6-0.
Boys doubles (quarter-finals): Kareem
Allaf (Syr) and Sherif Makhlouf (Egy-1) bt Ali
Dawani (Brn) and Adham Hesham Gabr (Egy)
6-3 6-0; Seif Adas (Jor) and Mousa Alkotop
(Jor) bt Karim Abdel Raouf (Egy) and Omar
Elkadi (Egy-4) 6-1 6-3; Amer Mohamed Abdo
(Yem) and Samer Thabit (Yem) bt Fares Al
Janahi (UAE) and Hamad Suroor (KSA) 6-1
6-2; Kushaan Nath (Ind) and Edoardo Sardella
(Ita-2) bt Omar Ahmed (KSA) and Ammar Alhogbani (US) 7-6(5) 6-2.
Girls doubles (quarter-finals): Lamis Alhussein Abdel Aziz (Egy) and Rikeetha Pereira (Ind1) bt Bdour Kandil (Egy) and Viktoria Morvayova (Svk) 6-0 6-3; Nariman Abo Bakr (Egy) and
Ahlam Shawkat (Egy-4) bt Kalpaka Pradip (Ind)
and Ginelle Michelle Samson (Ind) 6-0 6-0; Luciana Rabines (US) and Emelie Luisa Schwarte
(Ger-3) bt Mayar Eltony (Egy) and Madeleine
Gauthier (US) 6-3 6-2; Nancy Fawzy (Egy) and
Sanjana Sudhir (Ind-2) bt Teodora Sabljarevic
(Srb) and Frana Ugarkovic (Cro) 6-0 6-1 .
THE INDIAN Embassy in Bahrain, in cooperation with Bapco, is
organising an Indo-Bahrain Cricket Fest 2014 tomorrow
at Awali Cricket Club.
A team from India Embassy
XI will take on Bapco Indian
Expatriates XI in the morning
and a visiting Indian Navy Cadets clash with Awali Bapco in
the afternoon.
Indian Ambassador to Bahrain Dr Mohan Kumar will be
playing for Indian Embassy XI.
A prize distribution will be
held at 4.30pm presided by
Dr Kumar, Bapco Executive
Management, Dadabhai Group
chairman Mohammed Dadabhai and other officials.
The event is hosted by Bapco
and is supported by Dadabahi
Travel, Bahrain Finance Company and Awali Cricket Club.