Doha: Qatar's national snooker squad has rolled to two critical victories in the opening round of the main stage (group phase) of the World Snooker Championship - Qatar 2025, hosted by the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation and will roll on until Nov. 13.
According to Qatar News Agency, the tournament features top-ranked international players and former world champions. The two breakthroughs came through the brilliance of brothers Ali Al Obaidli and Mohanna Al Obaidli. Mohanna opened his Group 5 campaign with a 4-2 victory over China's Liang Xiaolong. He delivered a standout performance, falling behind in the first two frames 34-62 and 29-62 before mounting a forceful resurgence, sweeping four consecutive frames 65-43, 59-48, 63-24 and 60-9 to seal the match with commanding authority.
Mohanna now looks ahead to his match on Sunday against France's Nicolas Mortreux, eyeing a second win and early qualification for the knockout stage, before facing India's former Asian and world champion Brijesh Damani on Monday. Damani defeated Mortreux 4-3 earlier today.
Meanwhile, Ali Al Obaidli, the 2023 world champion, navigated a tough opening match against Hong Kong's Fong Kwok Wai, prevailing 4-2 after a balanced and hard-fought duel in which the decisive frames tilted in favor of the Qatari player. After dropping the opening frame 65-66, Ali stormed back to take three straight frames 84-0, 59-9 and 90-0. Fong narrowed the gap by winning the fifth frame 53-10, before Ali closed out the sixth 85-40, securing both the match and a confident start to his campaign.
Ali faces the United States' Ajeya Prabhakar on Sunday in a strong second-round encounter as he searches for a second win and early qualification, ahead of his Monday match against Iran's former Asian and world champion Amir Sarkhosh, who defeated Prabhakar 4-0 in his opener.