UAE miss out on gold in snooker

Three-member team fight back after trailing by two games during the Arab Games.

Oussama Mellouli, the Tunisian swimmer, poses with 15 gold medals after winning the best athlete in the Arab Games in Doha.

The UAE snooker team of Mohamed Al Hashimi, Eissa Al Hashmi and Muhammed Al Joker suffered a heartbreaking loss in the gold-medal match at the Arab Games, falling 3-2 to Bahrain in Doha on Thursday.

After losing the first two games 69-48 and 63-37, the UAE team rallied to win the next two games 67-32 and 78-31 and even the final at two games apiece.

That set up one game for the championship, which was won 74-36 by the Bahrain team of Heshum Al Saqr, Mohammed Al Shaikh and Habib Humood.

With one day left in the Games, the UAE were 11th in the overall standings with 34 medals, which included 10 gold, nine silver and 15 bronze.

In the 9-Ball Scotch Doubles competition, Hanni Al Howri and Salahaldeen Al Rimawi of the UAE lost the bronze-medal match against Qatar's Bashar Abdulmajeed and Mohammed Al Binali.

The UAE team just missed a medal in the close match, losing 9-7. They had defeated Ahmed Al Taweel and Ayhab Nisuif of Iraq 10-9 in the semi-finals.

In the ninth round of the women's classical team competition, the UAE played four matches against Libya.

But the Emiratis missed out on a medal after finishing seventh overall, with Algeria, Jordan and Egypt taking the first, second and third places, respectively.

In the shooting competition, Rashid Al Kendi was 12th in qualifying for men's trap. Hamad Al Kendi was 14th and Ahmed Bin Sultan was 17th.

In the Paralympics, Rashid Al Dhaheri of the UAE won a bronze medal in the men's T54 1,500-metre race yesterday. Al Dhaheri completed the race in three minutes 39.74 seconds. Ahmed Aouadi of Tunisia won the gold medal, and Fahad Mohammad of the UAE took fourth in the same race.

Mohammed Al Habsi finished ninth and Rashid Zeyoudi 11th in the men's javelin throw F54/55/56 competition. Egypt's Ibrahim Ibrahim won gold, his compatriot Yaser El Sayed silver and Palestine's Khamis Zaqout bronze.

UAE won gold in the men's 200m T53 competition when the 35-year-old Ayed Al Hababi edged Saudi Arabia's Fahad Al Ganaidl in what ended up being a two-man final.

Mohammed Al Mehairi of the UAE finished fourth in the men's F34 shot put; Rashid Al Nuami was fifth in the men's T37 1,500m; and Hamad Al Hammadi finished 12th in the men's F57/58 discus throw.

Oussama Mellouli, the Tunisian swimmer, was declared the best athlete at this year's Arab Games after he won an astounding 15 gold medals.