Saleh Mohammad: John Higgins, Mark Selby and Mark Allen my favourite players
Afghani cueman Saleh Mohammad has revealed his admiration for John Higgins, Mark Selby and Mark Allen. For Mohammad, these players are a source of great inspiration and he regards them as the best in the world.
With Mohammad’s resilient efforts along with his partner, Mohammad Rais Senzahi, Afghanistan managed to grab their first victory in 2011 World Cup Snooker at Bangkok Convention Centre, Thailand on Thursday, July 14.
The Afghan team was drawn in Group D against Poland, Scotland, Hong Kong and Thailand 2. Afghanistan played their first match against Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Passakorn Suwannawat, where they faced a tough resistance from the home team and eventually
lost the match 2-3. Mohammad won all his individual matches, but couldn’t steal victory for his country.
Mohammad and Senzahi then met Marco Fu and Fung Kwok Wai of Hong Kong, in their second match. Both cuemen faced the same music and got defeated, 2-3. Mohammad couldn’t perform well in this match, as he lost all his individual frames.
An expected result was seen when Mohammad and Senzahi faced world snooker champion John Higgins and Stephen Maguire of Scotland. The Scottish pair defeated them convincingly by 4-1. Only Mohammad took one of his individual games in their third match.
However, the glorious moment came for Afghanistan when Mohammad and Senzahi grabbed victory in their last group match against Poland. The Afghani pair easily ousted Kacper Filipiak and Krzysztof Wróbel by the score line of 4-1.
While speaking to the media after the victory, Mohammad said, “I played very well and didn't expect to win today. The competition is very tough and at a very high level - all the top professionals are here. For Afghanistan I was so proud to represent my
country and I'm so happy for my country, who have always supported us in snooker.”
He added, “John Higgins, Mark Selby and Mark Allen are all my favourite players. We're very proud to play here and so happy to do well. I feel very proud to be playing against professionals and it's a very big moment for me. I was so happy to play against
John Higgins and this is the first time I've played against him.”
Mohammad and Senzahi have finished fourth in the group with nine points so they can’t qualify for the quarter-final stage of the tournament.
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