Hossein Vafaei defeated Mark Williams to become the 2022 Snooker Shoot-out Champion

Congratulations Hossein Vafaei!

This is the report by WST:

Vafaei Makes History As First Iranian Champion

Hossein Vafaei became the first Iranian player to win a ranking title by beating Mark Williams in the final of the BetVictor Shoot Out in Leicester.

Williams played just one shot in the final, the break-off, as world number Vafaei 42 converted an excellent pot on a long red and went on to make a superb break of 71. He then missed a tricky red but, with only 67 points on the table, Williams had already taken off his shirt and offered the handshake.

A decade ago, Vafaei became the first Iranian player to compete on the main tour, and he has now broken new ground by capturing a professional title. Iran becomes the 14th country to produce a ranking event winner. Vafaei, nicknamed the Prince of Persia, hopes his success will inspire a new generation of snooker fans in his homeland.

Prior to this week, Vafaei had scored wins this season over Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby and Mark Allen

The 27-year-old had previous reached the semi-finals of three ranking events, losing to Williams on two of those occasions, but this time he could not be stopped. Undoubtedly he played the best snooker of this unique event, in which all matches are contested in a single frame. He made the highest break of the tournament, a 123, as well as three other breaks over 50, including a crucial 54 in the semi-finals as he came from 48-0 down to beat Liang Wenbo.

The £50,000 winner’s cheque plus the £5,000 high break prize gives him the biggest pay-day of his career so far. He also now looks set to qualify for next month’s Cazoo Players Championship and potentially the Cazoo Champion of Champions later in the year. Vafaei jumps 19 places to 23rd in the world rankings.

World number eight Williams missed out on a milestone 25th ranking title and the chance to become the first player ranked inside the top 16 to win the Shoot Out in its 11-year history. Victory would have also made the 46-year-old the second oldest winner of a ranking event, after fellow Welshman Ray Reardon. Williams was rarely in danger of losing throughout the four-day event until the final, where he could do little against an inspired opponent.

Vafaei is joined in celebration by Samuel Boswell of BetVictor and WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson

Vafaei, who is based in Darlington during the season, said: “It’s such a big achievement for me, it’s a dream come true. All of the young players in Iran will see what is possible. I have worked hard for this. Everyone around me knows how hard I work for tournaments. I had beaten some good players this season and that gave me belief that I can do something in this game. Who knows how far I can go now.

“When I arrived at this event I nearly pulled out because my grandmother passed away. I was in my room crying for one hour for my grandma. My mother and everyone in my family were crying. I decided to play but I didn’t care about winning or losing. An energy came to me, I don’t know how to explain it, and I played fantastic. It was very sad news for me but everyone told me to win it for my grandma, I wanted to do that and I have done it.

“I can’t imagine what the reaction back in Iran will be like, it will be very big. People will be proud of me and I am so happy about that. The future of snooker in Iran is very good and I am trying my best to make it bigger there. The first step is the hardest and I have won my first title now so maybe I can win more.”

Earlier in the semi-finals, Williams saw off Robbie Williams, who reached the last four of a ranking event for the second time in his career. China’s Liang might have knocked out Vafaei had he not miscued on the black when he led 48-0. Vafaei compiled a break of 54 which proved enough.

So this concluded this seasonedition of the Shoot-out. I must confess that I rather enjoyed it this time for a number of reasons.

I already mentioned this, but, although the crowd was loud, I didn’t see any of the nasty behaviours that marred some previous editions. I was at the first ever shoot-out, as a photographer, and it was good fun. In the following couple of years it wasn’t aymore because of the behaviour of some drunk fans. They were a minority but they still spoiled if for eveyone else, including many of the playerswho had come with their kids. Female referees were abused, and female photographers were showered in beer and got broken glass thrown at them. World snooker security stepped in of course but that was not fun. This year I didn’t see anything like that. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

I enjoyed watching some of the young amateurs and lower ranked players. We usually don’t see them unless they play a top guy on television and, more often than not, don’t show much because of the pressure and the unfamiliar conditions. Some of them impressed me this week.

I liked it that Hossein won the event, playing “properly” from start to finish and it amused me when he seized the trophy without waiting for the presentation party! 😂 It meant so much to him! It’s all so much harder for the non British/Irish players because of the UK centric structure of the tour.

I’m still not convinced that this should be ranking because, basically, it’s not snooker, but considering that even with ￡50000 for the winner a lot of the top players gave it a miss, it’s probably the only way it can be made sustainable.