UK Championship: Hossein Vafaei predicts snooker revolution in Middle East as he chases glory – ‘It is going to happen’
Hossein Vafaei is nicknamed the ‘Prince of Persia’ but the Iranian showman is convinced snooker will receive a huge boost in the Middle East if he becomes UK Championship king at the York Barbican this weekend.
Vafaei producd a regal scoring performance in a 6-1 demolition of Matthew Selt in the last 16 on Thursday evening, rolling in breaks of 132, 94, 56, 133 and 121 to set up a quarter-final meeting with International champion Zhang Anda on Friday afternoon.
World champion Luca Brecel – who lost 6-4 to Zhang in the last 16 on the other showpiece table in York – has become a national treasure in Belgium after his totemic Crucible success in May.
Vafaei feels a similar landmark sporting victory for Iran at the UK Championship would be of massive benefit to green baize growth in his region of the world.
“It would be amazing. If I go all the way, it is good for the game, it is good for snooker in the Middle East, it is good for all of the players and the snooker market,” he told reporters.
“Something would happen after I won, and you would have the Dubai Open, Saudi Open and Qatar Open. It is going to happen soon I’m sure.”
‘Higgins is leaving the arena!’ – Surprise as star walks off mid-match
The United Arab Emirates last hosted a major ranking event in 1994 when Alan McManus won the Dubai Classic with a 9-6 victory over Peter Ebdon.
Neil Robertson also clamed the solitary staging of the Bahrain Championship in 2008 with a 9-7 win over Matthew Stevens, a tournament that never returned to the elite calendar.
‘Extraordinary’ – Vafaei smashes into reds on break-off against O’Sullivan
“I played fantastic today. It couldn’t be any better than that,” Vafaei said after improving upon his 6-4 win over Shaun Murphy in the first round. “I started like a dream. Everyone dreams of starting a match like that.
“I felt really good and playing like that in front of big fans in the York Barbican is an amazing feeling.
“It is so enjoyable. You can’t explain that or teach that. I enjoyed tonight a lot. I scored really heavily and as a player you dream of performing like that in an event like the UK Championship.
“It is just a matter of time. I am from a different country and I need to learn lots of different things to compete with legends. It is tough to get to that level, but I am getting there.”
UK Championship: Friday’s quarter-final order of play
(all matches best of 11 frames)
- Ronnie O’Sullivan v Zhou Yuelong
- Hossein Vafaei v Zhang Anda
- Ding Junhui v Mark Williams
- Mark Selby v Judd Trump
Read the full article Here
