By Elliott West
“When I arrived at this event I nearly pulled out because my grandmother passed away. I was in my room crying for one hour for my grandma. My mother and everyone in my family were crying. I decided to play but I didn’t care about winning or losing. An energy came to me, I don’t know how to explain it, and I played fantastic. It was very sad news for me but everyone told me to win it for my grandma, I wanted to do that and I have done it”.
Hossein Vafaei
Introduction
History was made last night when the highly likeable Iranian snooker player Hossein Vafaei won the Snooker Shootout. This prize was well deserved after the turbulent years this Iranian has had to endure chasing visas to enable him to play. Just prior to this tournament, Hossein had the tragic news that his Grandmother had suddenly passed away, casting doubts on whether he would play or if he did, would he be able to combat his raw grief to play to the standard required to win?
Inspired
Having closely followed Vafaei’s career, I had a feeling that this was his time to shine and he did just that. The regimented hours of practice in Darlington started to pay off with his composed and unflinching concentration that zoned out the shot clock and just played. This wasn’t about winning or losing at the beginning, just functioning. However, you could see that his ethos started to pay off as he grew in stature, being inspired by an unknown spirit that was filled with confidence.
In the final, Mark Williams was blown away by this inspired Iranian. It reminded me of that moment when Dennis Taylor was inspired by his mother to win the 1985 World Championship. His blistering first long red was enough to seal the deal but was followed by a magical break of 71. This was enough for Williams to discard his polo shirt and warmly congratulate his opponent. A trophy that he was so excited by getting his hands on, he inadvertently bypassed the presentation party and just picked it up and kissed it. Not that anyone minded, especially as this was such a historic occasion.
Prior to this tournament, Hossein was already showing great form, having made the semi-finals of three ranking events and in the Snooker Shootout made the highest break of the tournament, a break of 123. Vafaei is starting to become known as a record maker, becoming the first Iranian to turn professional ten years ago and now the first to win a professional title. This makes Iran the 14th country to produce a ranking event winner.
Afterthought
Hossein Vafaei has now reached a monumental stage in his career. He has now won a ranking title, the prize needed to kickstart him on to greater things. By winning this trophy and its £50,000 prize, the Iranian now instantly gets to compete in the Champion of Champions. There was a telling moment in his post-match interview on Eurosport when Jimmy White had a mentoring session with the newly crowned champion, telling him to look beyond the greats of the game and to think about yourself. Vafaei has proved himself and now knows he is capable of winning future tournaments. The sky is the limit!
This is fantastic news for his homeland of Iran, blighted by years of internal and external conflict. Beyond the media image of this aggressive Islamic state, lies a beautiful country with an interesting culture and very warm and loving people. I look forward to the moment when he can return to his country and parade his well-earned trophy and hopefully one day World Snooker will be able to hold a tournament there or at the very least, this victory has inspired other Iranians to pick up a cue and play, hopefully producing players of Vafaei’s calibre in the future.
