TABLE MANNERS

Bahraini snooker star May Al Doseri is on a mission to rally more women to take to the table and stretch themselves in a game in which mental strength plays a potent part in playing success.

Al Doseri, 29, first picked up a cue in 2010 and in seven years has secured several tournament victories and helped raise the kingdom’s sporting flag in championships abroad.

Ranked 24 in the women’s standings, she has competed in the World Snooker Championship and recently battled against top players from around the globe in the World 6 Red Snooker Championship in Egypt.

Al Doseri, the learning and development manager for Mövenpick Hotel Bahrain, who has a twin sister, Jomeya, said: “I hope to encourage more Bahraini women to play this great sport.”

She is currently ranked second in the kingdom behind her close friend and team mate in the Bahrain Billiards and Snooker Federation, Nahla Al Sunni, 28.

The two played for the Bahrain national team in an international event staged in Egypt in August and faced players in singles and doubles contests against the pick of Russia, India, Hong Kong and Thailand.

“I love this game and my aim, along with Nahla, is to not only keep it alive in Bahrain but grow the game for women,” said Al Doseri. “Currently there are only the two of us playing internationally but I’m sure we could encourage others to step forward and help the sport gain even more exposure.”

Al Doseri is preparing for her next major challenge of competing in the next World Snooker Championships in November. Every second of her spare time is being taken up on the tables. She has been practicing for up to five hours at a time, three to four times a week at the pool hall in Dana Mall or at the Bahrain Billiards and Snooker Federation premises in East Riffa.

She currently does not have a coach and is teaching herself new tips and tricks to the game.

Al Doseri said: “I guess you could say and whenever I get the chance I practice and even during my down time I’m watching snooker games featuring my favourite players or checking out the latest tips and tricks on YouTube.

“My dad, Yaser, used to play billiards and I guess it rubbed off on me. I loved playing on the pool table and one day a good friend of mine challenged me to a game of snooker. It was a much larger table, with smaller pockets and a different set of rules and it became my mission to master the sport.”

She says Yaser and her mum, Joventina, as well as siblings, Jomeya, Maha, Abdulrahman and Salman, show her tremendous support and have helped made her sporting achievements attainable.

Al Doseri’s talents captured the attention of the national team selectors when she competed in a tournament staged by the Bahrain Billiards & Snooker Federation at the Golden Triangle Snooker & Billiards Centre.

She said: “I was 22 at the time and it was the first tournament I had ever participated in.” she said. “I was excited when I took home third place.

“My favourite competition to date was competing in the World Championship in 2010. I was very proud to be only the second woman from Bahrain and the GCC to compete in the event.”

In snooker, there are 15 red and six coloured balls and one cue ball. The player has to pot a red first, then a colour, and again a red, and so on. At the end of the frame the player with the most points wins.

Each red carries 1 point, yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6 and black 7. The six coloured balls are put back on the table but not the reds. When the reds are over, the other colours are potted in the ascending order of the value of their points.

“I love the physics behind it and the challenge factor,” explained Al Doseri. “Accuracy is very important when it comes to controlling the white ball and this helps you strategise and think 10 steps ahead.”

Another fond snooker memory was when Barry Hawkins, one of the world’s top professional snooker players, visited Bahrain in 2012 for games against national team players.

“I was star struck,” Al Doseri admitted. “This really is a beautiful sport and I will continue to encourage and hope more women take it up.”