Ahmed Saif

For the Emirati footballer, see Ahmed Saif (footballer).

Ahmed Saif (born 1 January 1983) is a Qatari former professional snooker player. He was the first professional player from Qatar. Saif was a professional between 2013 and 2015, reaching a highest ranking of 113 in the world.

Ahmed Saif

Born	(1983-01-01) 1 January 1983 (age 42)
Sport country	Qatar
Professional	2013–2015
Highest ranking	113 (June–July 2014)[1]
Medal record Men's Snooker Representing  Qatar Pan Arab Games 2011 Doha Singles 2011 Doha Team Asian Indoor Games 2009 Vietnam Team 2017 Ashgabat Team

Career

Amateur

Saif as an amateur represented the Qatari national snooker team at the 2002, 2006 and 2010^[2] Asian Games, 2009 and 2013 Asian Indoor Games. Saif had success in the 2011 Pan Arab Games where he won a silver medal in the snooker singles, losing to Iraqi Firas Al-Shamini in the final, he also won a bronze in the team event alongside Ali Al Obaidly and Mohsen Bukshaisha.

Saif also appeared as a wildcard in 2008 Bahrain Championship, where he lost 5–1 to Robert Milkins in the wildcard round.^[3][4] He also appeared in the opening two Players Tour Championship events in the 2010/2011 season, however he lost both of them 4–0 to Andrew Higginson and Jamie Clarke.

Professional

Saif entered the 2013 Q School in an attempt to become Qatar's first professional snooker player. In the first event he beat fellow countryman Mohsen Bukshaisha, before falling to Shane Castle in the last 64. However, with wins over Zack Richardson, Duane Jones, Michael Georgiou, Antony Parsons and Jamie Clarke in the second event, Saif reached the semi-final stages and won a place on the main tour for the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons.^[2][5]

Saif was to endure a difficult debut season as a professional, as he failed to win a single match, winning only fourteen frames in fourteen matches, six of which came in his 10–6 loss to Scott Donaldson in the 2014 World Snooker Championship first qualifying round. He finished the season ranked 130.^[6]

Saif's first match win as a professional came in January 2015 at the minor-ranking Xuzhou Open over Chinese amateur Long Yun.^[7] Later, he achieved his first win in a full ranking event, beating Anthony Hamilton 4–0 at the 2015 Welsh Open, closing out the match with a 95 break which is the highest of his career in competitive play.^[8] However, Saif was whitewashed in the next round 4–0 by Alan McManus.^[7] He ended his stint on the tour ranked world number 117 and failed to come through Q School in an attempt to win his place back.^[9]

Performance and Rankings timeline

Tournament	2008/ 09	2010/ 11	2013/ 14	2014/ 15
Ranking[10][nb 1]	[nb 2]	[nb 2]	[nb 3]	130
Ranking tournaments
Shanghai Masters	A	A	LQ	LQ
International Championship	Not Held		LQ	LQ
UK Championship	A	A	1R	1R
German Masters	NH	A	LQ	A
Welsh Open	A	A	1R	2R
Indian Open	Not Held		LQ	LQ
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 4]	NH	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
China Open	A	A	LQ	LQ
World Championship	A	A	LQ	LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Bahrain Championship	WR	Not Held
World Open[nb 5]	A	A	LQ	NH

Performance Table Legend
LQ	lost in the qualifying draw	#R	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)	QF	lost in the quarter-finals
SF	lost in the semi-finals	F	lost in the final	W	won the tournament
DNQ	did not qualify for the tournament	A	did not participate in the tournament	WD	withdrew from the tournament

NH / Not Held				means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event				means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event				means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event				means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
2. He was an amateur.
3. New players don't have a ranking.
4. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011)
5. The event was called the Grand Prix (2008/2009)