Humood Wins Maiden Q Tour Title in Bahrain
05/23/2024 10:35 AM
Habib Subah Humood defeated Ismail Türker to win the first event of the 2024/25 WPBSA Q Tour Middle East series on home soil.
The Bahraini former professional, who finished third in the Q Tour Middle East ranking list last season, made a dream start to the new campaign by lifting the title in his home country.
Following a successful maiden season that saw both Amir Sarkhosh and Mohamed Shehab qualify for the World Snooker Tour, the Middle East series has now expanded to incorporate events in Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The first of these took place at the Bahrain Snooker Academy in Manama and saw 40 players from 8 countries embark on Bahrain’s capital city for the three-day event.
Humood was looking to secure his first Q Tour crown, having finished runner-up to Sarkhosh in event one last season, and made the perfect start with back-to-back whitewash victories over fellow countrymen Aziz Alhalwaki and Hesham Alsaqer to reach the last 16 stage.
There, he faced what ultimately proved to be his toughest test of the tournament against Libya’s Kusai Sharif, who fired in breaks of 60 and 55 in moving 3-2 ahead and one frame from victory.
The man from Bahrain was able to hold his nerve, however, and got over the line in a deciding frame with a half-century of his own before storming to the title match with comfortable wins against Ali Jalil and Omar Ramy.
Turkish cueist Türker was standing between Humood and the title after he had whitewashed Karar Najim of Iraq to reach a Q Tour event final for the first time.
Humood was in fine scoring form, compiling the tournament high break of 105 in his semi-final encounter, and continued this at the most important time as a break of 81 put him 3-0 ahead and one away from glory.
Türker briefly rallied, keeping his opponent scoreless in the fourth, but Humood was able to secure victory in the next to win the title and take an early lead in the Q Tour Middle East ranking list.
Event two will take place in Dubai, UAE from 19-21 July. The top two ranked players at the conclusion of the third event will qualify for the Q Tour Global Play-Offs, where three World Snooker Tour cards will be on offer.
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