By Elliott West
Introduction
Held between 26-29 September 1988 at the Al Nasr Stadium in Dubai, this was the first year of this tournament, changing its title to the Dubai Classic the following year and running until 1994. The Dubai years were dominated by Stephen Hendry, claiming victory in 1989, 1990, and 1993, John Parrott winning in 1991 and 1992 with Neal Foulds becoming champion in 1988, and Alan McManus in 1994, the final year of the event. It was then renamed the Thailand Classic for the 1996/96 season and the Asian Classic for the 1997/98 season with the final winner being Ronnie O’Sullivan.
This was a tournament that grew in its duration with more players taking part over the years. In 1988 the winner’s share of the prize was £25,000 with a format of eight local players being drawn against professionals. Sadly no one of the Arabic players made it through to the quarter-finals and were all beaten 2-0 in their best-of-three matches.
The Tournament
The Main Draw
Quarter-Finals (Best of 5 frames)
Neal Foulds v Cliff Thorburn 3-1
Tony Meo v Jimmy White 3-2
Steve Davis v Terry Griffiths 3-2
Willie Thorne v Dennis Taylor 3-0
Semi-Finals (Best of 9 frames)
Neal Foulds v Tony Meo 5-4
Steve Davis v Willie Thorne 5-2
The Final (Best of 9 frames)
Neal Foulds v Steve Davis 5-4
In a tournament where all of the matches were fairly tight, the only exception being Thorne’s whitewash of Dennis Taylor, the sands of time were driven in the direction of Neal Foulds in the final. Foulds who had some right clashes with Davis over the years, was usually on the receiving end of a drubbing by his opponent. However, on this occasion, he managed to take the match all the way to a deciding frame, winning the final 5-4.
Perhaps the heat got to Davis on this occasion but Neal Foulds was a formidable player in his time and didn’t reach the world ranking of number three for nothing. This was one of his five non-ranking titles, making another seven finals and winning the 1986 international Open, where he defeated Cliff Thorburn 12-9.
Foulds didn’t take part in the event the following year and in 1990, as the Dubai Classic, reached the semi-finals, losing to the eventual winner that year, Stephen Hendry 5-1.
Summary
The Dubai tournaments were an early tester of how snooker would fair on other shores. Sadly there haven’t been tournaments played there since despite being highly successful. Snooker briefly returned to the Gulf states in 2008 with the Bahrain Championship which only lasted one year when Neil Robertson defeated Matthew Stevens 9-7 in the final. There will hopefully also be the Saudi Arabian Masters, postponed from last year due to the pandemic and pencilled in for this December with a ten-year deal.
