The former professional from Bahrain, who placed third in the Q Tour Middle East standings the previous season, began the new campaign with a bang by winning the title in his native nation.
With a successful inaugural season that saw Mohamed Shehab and Amir Sarkhosh earn spots on the World Snooker Tour, the Middle East series has now grown to include events in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
In the first of these, which was held at the Bahrain Snooker Academy in Manama, forty players from eight different countries traveled to Bahrain’s capital for the three-day competition.
After finishing second to Sarkhosh in the inaugural event of the previous season, Humood was aiming to win his first Q Tour title. He got off to the ideal start by defeating fellow countrymen Hesham Alsaqer and Aziz Alhalwaki in back-to-back straight to advance to the last 16 stage.
There, he faced Kusai Sharif of Libya, who fired in breaks of 60 and 55 to move 3-2 ahead and one frame away from victory. It turned out to be his toughest test of the tournament.
But the Bahraini man managed to remain composed and crossed the finish line in a decisive frame with a half-century of his own. He then easily defeated Omar Ramy and Ali Jalil to advance to the championship match.
Turkish cueist Türker stood in Humood’s way of winning the title when he defeated Iraq’s Karar Najim to make it to his first-ever Q Tour tournament final.
In his semi-final match, Humood recorded the tournament’s highest break of 105. He maintained this form at the crucial moment, when a break of 81 placed him ahead 3-0 and just one victory away from victory.
For a brief while, Türker came back and kept his opponent scoreless in the fourth round, but Humood managed to win the next round and go up to the top of the Q Tour Middle East rankings.
Event two is scheduled for July 19–21 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Three World Snooker Tour cards are up for grabs in the Q Tour Global Play-Offs, which will be open to the top two players after the third event.
