Al Zaabi dazzles the world in snooker with 5% of his vision

The player of the People of Determination snooker team, Saeed Al Zaabi, surpassed the “1500 Century” barrier, in an unprecedented achievement worldwide, by winning more than 100 consecutive points in the game’s matches, despite the challenges imposed by his 100% blindness in his right eye, and his continued reliance on less than 5% in the corner of his left eye, which makes him unable to accurately determine the locations and colors of the balls on the table, and relying entirely on his intuition to shoot at the balls.

Al Zaabi told Al-Emarat Al-Youm, “My connection to snooker dates back to an early age, as a hobby that led me in 2013 to join the national team for able-bodied people. However, this journey quickly ended due to my blindness and loss of sight, and my entry into a long treatment journey that resulted in the recovery of less than 5% of my left eye in 2020, with a broken image and an inability to identify places and even colors.” He added, “The encouragement of my children who represented the UAE national teams was behind giving me the opportunity in 2019 to reconnect with this sport through a table with world-class specifications located in my home, which allowed my gradual return to playing the game as a hobby, and training that quickly revealed to me that I still possess the talent that led me in less than a month to record the first (century), or what is known as winning the round by more than 100 consecutive points, to continue my talent despite the challenges in breaking records, and I am currently reaching the (1500th century) in this sport.”

“The relationship that linked me to the number one ranked snooker player in the country, Mohammed Shehab, was behind giving me the ability to break the barrier of fear and join the academy that he runs in Abu Dhabi, with the aim of continuing training, and then his help in obtaining official recognition and classification in 2021 from the International Federation for People of Determination, in a step that paved the way for my strong return to become the first professional snooker player with disabilities,” he explained.

“I rely on my intuition when shooting the balls, especially since the game of snooker is made up of red balls, and others in the colours yellow and brown, which are very similar to red, green, blue, pink, and black. When shooting, I anticipate where the cue ball, or what is known as the white shooting ball, will stop on the table, in preparation for the next shot in rotation according to the rules of the game by shooting between a red ball, followed by a coloured ball, until all the red balls are finished, then shooting successively at the remaining coloured balls, the last of which is the black one, which announces the end of the game,” Al Zaabi said.

Saeed pointed out that his intuition led him on more than one occasion to record the world record that normal players aspire to in how to score a century, and he said: “Since hitting the first ball in the game, I memorize in my mind where the white shooting ball or (Q-ball) will stop before executing the next shot, and so on when I hit successive shots, to succeed many times in scoring a victory of 148 consecutive points in one game, which is considered the world record for the largest victory in the world of snooker in one game.”

He added: “What I have achieved over the past three years, and surpassing the 1500 century barrier, confirms the continuity of the talent I possess, in an achievement that is difficult for even the elite of healthy professional players in the world to achieve over 20 years.”

Al Zaabi called on the game federation to expedite the procedures for his official registration, which would enable him to represent the country in international forums. He concluded his speech by saying: “The lack of support was behind my being deprived of participating in the World Championship in the last five editions, especially since my participation requires me to be accompanied by a coach and an assistant who will ensure that, according to the laws of the International Federation for People of Determination when needed, I can distinguish between the colors of the balls on the table. I appeal to the game federation in the country to expedite the procedures for official registration, so that I can achieve my dream of representing the country and raising the UAE flag in major international forums.”

Saeed Al Zaabi:

• My achievement is difficult for even the world’s elite professionals to achieve.

• My children gave me the opportunity to reconnect with this sport in 2019.

• Lack of support prevented me from participating in the World Championship in the last five editions.

• I demand that the Federation expedite the procedures for my official registration to represent the country in international forums.