Kuala Lumpur // The UAE's Mohamed Shehab was knocked out of the Selangor Open in the semi-finals on Friday when he suffered a 6-1 loss at the hands of Imtiaz Serwer of Pakistan.
The other UAE cueist taking part in the seven-nation tournament, Mohammed Al Joaker, had lost 5-4 to Elvin Lean of Malaysia in the last 16 round on Thursday afternoon.
Shehab, a former Asian Indoor Games gold medallist, had been on a fine run, defeating KL Tan of Malaysia 5-3 in the last 16 and seeing off another Malaysian, Roslan Yurnalis, 5-3 in the quarter-finals of the 48-player event.
Shehab, whose 117-point break scored in the first round was the highest of the tournament, did not play to the best of his potential against Serwer, to whom he had lost 3-2 in the first round, the round-robin stage, as well.
Shehab said in a telephone interview after the match: "Without taking away anything away from him, it was my own mistakes that cost me the match.
"His safety worked very well today and he was able to push me into situations where I was forced to mistakes.
"I simply couldn't get the cue ball close enough to the cushions to make things difficult for him.
"Throughout the tournament, I was able to score easily but today Serwer simply did not give me any chance.
"I need to work more on my safety when I return to the practice table."
Meanwhile, a three-member UAE squad left Dubai on Friday afternoon for Doha to participate in the 2012 World 9-ball Pool Championship, which commences Saturday.
The players representing the UAE are the 2012 West Asian Championship gold medallist Hanni Al Howri, as well as Salah Al Rimawi and Ali Saeed Al Suwaidi.
The manager of the team is Saeed Al Marri.
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