Dubai: The UAE’s reigning national champion Mohammad Shehab joined the top two seeds in the semi-finals of the 33rd ACBS Men’s Snooker Championships that is being held in Doha, Qatar.

In Thursday’s quarter-finals, Shehab battled against veteran Patrick Ooi of Malaysia before powering home 5-4 to set up a semi-final meeting with second seed Lv Haotian of China. Top seed Pankaj Advani of India was in smooth form with a 5-1 win against the UAE’s Mohammad Al Joker and will meet Mohammad Bilal of Pakistan in the second semi-final.

The quarter-final between Shehab and Ooi went the distance with neither player willing to give anything away. In the ninth and deciding frame, Shehab started slowly as his Malaysian opponent led 12-0 and then 34-12. But the 40-year-old from the UAE went clear 66-39 with a further 27 points still on the table. Ooi tried to stage a comeback adding another nine points as he trailed 48-66.

It was then that Shehab got the opening he was looking for and he cleared the blue and the red balls to win frame and match 84-48.

This time the tournament has attracted a total of 66 players, who had been divided into 16 groups for the preliminary round matches that concluded last Tuesday. The Round of 32 and 16 were held on Wednesday, while the quarter-finals were completed in the first part of Wednesday. The final will be held on Friday.

“This has been a fantastic tournament for Shehab. I am glad he’s beaten the best player in Malaysia as that will give him further confidence for the semi-finals against Lv [Haotian],” UAE coach Mohammad Abdullah told Gulf News from Doha.

Results

(Quarter-finals): Pankaj Advani (India) def. Mohammad Al Joker (UAE) 5-1 (58-52, 102-0, 12-60, 60-31, 56-20, 71-59); Mohammad Bilal (Pakistan) def. Mohammad Reza Hassan (Malaysia) 5-2 (79-39, 80-0, 75-40, 2-56, 81-26, 0-113, 68-52); Mohammad Shehab (UAE) def. Patrick Ooi (Malaysia) 5-4 (47-56, 101-16, 8-96, 56-44, 39-60, 81-42, 30-109, 93-36, 84-48); Lv Haotian (China) def. Keen Hoo Moh (Malaysia) 5-4 (8-91, 21-90, 84-13, 64-35, 38-61, 78-17, 1-68, 74-10, 65-25).