I remember it was back in the early nineties, I was at the Al Nasr Club watching Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and John Parrott in action during the Dubai Duty Free Classic. I was particularly in awe of Hendry, who in 1990 had made snooker history when he became the youngest-ever World Champion at the age of 21. His long range potting skills took my breath away while his break-build consistency had me bamboozled.
I recall being perched on the edge of my seat watching the young man from Scotland toy with Davis, a six-time World Champion, to win the tournament.
A few years later, it was another snooker match that had my attention. This time the venue was the Dubai Snooker Club in Karama which was hosting the Emarat International Snooker Tournament. Pakistan's seven-time National Champion Mohammad Yousuf was playing a relatively unknown player from the UAE — Obaid Khalifa.
Obaid was a strapping six-footer with a nice touch, but today he appeared to be in trouble having lost three frames to trail 3-1. Yousuf , a former World Masters Champion, was oozing confidence at this stage in the match, while Obaid seemed to have run out of ideas. Or so we thought. But before we knew it he had, out of the blue, levelled the scores, before he produced a tremendous late surge to sensationally win the final frame and the match 4-3. The UAE had won the match and the tournament and snooker had arrived big time.
Unforgettable match
"I will never forget that match, it was the toughest match I have ever played in my life," Obaid recollected when I met him earlier this week. "I thought I was going to lose at one stage, but then I said to myself, ‘Obaid you're not playing for yourself, you've playing for your country. You've got to win this.'
"Somehow I found the strength and ability to fight back. I threw everything I had into the match and frame by frame became stronger and better. But the end I was playing so confidently that I felt I could beat anybody. I think I played the best game of my life on that day, and it was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was a dream come true to win the tournament for your country by beating one of the strongest snooker teams in Asia. But more importantly, I think that win triggered a snooker boom in the country and encouraged many Emiratis to start playing the game."
I could feel he was thrilled — the man who would go on to represent the UAE for nine more years during which period they would win 13 GCC tournaments and five at the Arab level.
Video: Emirati snooker champ
At present, Obaid has donned the mantle of coach and national dream-weaver. And he articulates about the challenge he faces with confidence.
"All that matters to me is to take the youngsters forward, to give them something to aim for, to dream about," he said. "The challenge is to become a better player with every match you play. In my mind, we play to win and to improve."
However, Obaid accepts that he has undertaken a challenging assignment.
"You feel that you have a lot of expectations behind you. People want to see results. It's all about winning. We have to live with this sort of pressure, it's not easy. But I will try very hard."
Obaid, who came through the ranks to establish himself as a key member of the UAE team from 1988 to 2009, feels that to succeed one must forget about the difficulties and discover a solution and keep the focus.
He recalls his early playing days where one had to compete just to get a game on one of the few snooker tables that were available in the clubs.
Competitive beginnings
"In those days we did not have many tables to play on and there were many guys who were lining up to play," he recollected. "You had to write your name with a piece of chalk on a board and wait for your turn to play. If you won the game, you could keep playing, but if you lost you had a long wait for your next chance.
"It could take as long as an hour before you got another game, so every player would do their best to win, to keep playing. It was very competitive. It was the first time that I encountered challenges in the sport. And that toughened me up and actually made me more competitive and a better player.
"From there I progressed to tournaments where I would play against top players from India and Pakistan, in particular. Their games were of a very high standard and I learned a lot from playing against them," Obaid acknowledges.
"Today, the scenario has changed. You have more clubs and more tables in the country and the standard amongst the local players is much higher. Most of them start playing pool and the more serious players progress to snooker or billiards.
"Players like Mohammad Al Joker and Mohammad Shehab are top class players. They can compete internationally. They're as good as anybody, but the only thing they lack is the experience and international exposure.
"Thet have won many GCC and Arab titles and are even competitive at the Asian level, which is very high. We can be very proud of them. They have put the UAE on the international map.
"The only thing we have to do is to build on what they have achieved and I'm hoping our juniors are up to the task."
Former UAE snooker champion recounts his reign as UAE's king of snooker.
