The 2016 IBSF World Snooker Championship has taken over Sharm El-Sheikh until the end of July.
The championship, which started 20 July and ends 30 July, is divided into two categories: 15 reds, where two teams of two play against each other, and six reds, where two individuals compete against each other.
On 23 July, Egyptian champion Mahmoud El-Hareedy from Smouha Club won “the best of seven rounds” at the six reds match against Thailand’s Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon.
El-Hareedy won the first two rounds, followed by Thirapongpaiboon winning the following two rounds, resulting in a 2-2 score. El-Hareedy then came out on top, ending the match with a score of 4-2 in his favour.
Thirapongpaiboon is Asia’s top champion and has participated in professional championships for two years.
“The first six reds match I played was against Egyptian player Mohamed Hemdan, but I lost. The result was 4-2. This was a hard lesson that motivated me to win the following matches,” says El-Hareedy.
El-Hareedy, along with his Egyptian team player Mohamed Ismail, won their first 15 reds match against India with a final result of 4-1. The Egyptian duo defeated the second strongest snooker team in India in this match.
The Egyptian duo continued grabbing victories, winning against Malaysia with a final score of 3-2 after a tough battle, bearing in mind that one of the Malaysian team members is one of Asia’s champion players. This match was a decisive one, and thanks to their victory the Egyptian duo qualified for the knock-out round.
El-Hareedy’s sports career is fruitful. He won the National Snooker Championship for juniors under 18 in 2015, and won silver at the National Snooker Championship for juniors under 21 in 2016.
He also represented Egypt in the international championships. In 2014, he participated in the Arab Snooker Championship for juniors under 21, where he won the bronze medal.
In the 2016 IBSF World Snooker Championship, the Egyptian duo will play a 15 reds match on 24 July against another Egyptian team. On 25 July El-Hareedy will meet a Saudi player in a six reds match.
When asked about his dream, El-Hareedy told Daily News Egypt: “Any player’s dream is to become a professional. One of the steps towards achieve this is to win amateur championships in order to participate in professional championships. After winning a certain number of matches, he becomes a professional. The way is long and hard, but I am doing my best. I practice at Smouha Club. About 30% or even 40% of my training is watching professional players’ performances.”
