Haris Tahir aiming very big after strong start to pro snooker career

17/08/2024 17:01

Pakistan’s Haris Tahir has made an impressive start to life on the professional tour but wants to go a lot further, saying: ‘My goal is to be number one.’

The 24-year-old won his place on the World Snooker Tour earlier this year by coming through Asia/Oceania Q School in Bangkok.

It is a huge step up to professional status for the former Asian Under-21 Championship runner-up, but he has made a good start, winning his first two matches against Jamie Jones and Dean Young in Wuhan and British Open qualifying respectively.

Tahir is very pleased with those results, but he wants a lot more than just a couple of victories in qualifiers.

‘It's amazing for me. I've come here and won both matches, I had to play good games to win them,’ he told Metro. ‘It was very enjoyable, I can't express the feeling, but it's really good.

‘I expect even more than this though. My goal is to be number one. That is the final goal for me.’

Tahir has moved to Sheffield for two years, basing himself at The Ding Junhui Snooker Academy and working hard with the array of top players practicing there.

‘There's so many good players,’ he said. ‘Right now it's just me over here in the UK, it's my first time here, so it's good to be at Ding’s.

‘There are about 20 Chinese players. I play with everyone, I play with them all, the Indians, the Iranians. I'm enjoying it here, it's good. Everything is near. I've found everything in walking distance. Lahore is much bigger.

‘I knew the Indian and Iranian players who recently qualified from the Q Tour, but I didn't know any professionals before this. It's all new for me. I played the amateur circuit before this. I got medals in Asian tournaments, but this is my first time playing professionals, it's a good achievement for me.’

The next challenge for Tahir is a big one, taking on world champion Kyren Wilson in the opening round of the Xi’an Grand Prix on Monday but he is relishing the opportunity.

‘I want to play with any player, all the good players,’ he said. ‘Maybe the top 16, I want to play with them.

‘If I play with them I know how to do more things and what not to do, I want to learn all about snooker. It will be good for me to play Kyren.’

The Pakistani talent has come a long way from Lahore to South Yorkshire on his snooker journey, which began around 15 years ago.

‘I was maybe eight or nine years old when I started watching and playing snooker,’ he explained. ‘I qualified for the Junior National Championship in Pakistan in 2014, that was my first tournament.

‘On television there is no snooker. Sometimes on one channel there are some matches, but not all the matches. We watch on YouTube. It's very popular in Pakistan. There is no additional support from government, but it's very popular to play, there are so many players.’

Snooker may be very popular in his home country, but Tahir would not class himself as a great fan anymore, outside of playing the game.

‘I don't watch snooker now,’ he said. ‘I just play and go home. When I'm out of the venue or the tournament I don't think about snooker, I just live my own life. I like travelling and swimming…these type of things.’

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