BEIROET - Four Lebanese billiard players (50, 50, 37 and 33) will board a plane in Beirut tonight for a five-hour flight to Amsterdam. They will show up in the Veghel World Cup in the next few days, ensuring that the home front is safe enough. Lebanese champion Yasser Shehayeb (37), willing to be interviewed by Kozoom ('but not about politics') is playing a World Cup in the Netherlands for the first time, but has done around 10 international tournaments, including World championships in Viersen, Denmark, Egypt and Turkey. Yasser: ’’I’m very happy to come and play in the Netherlands. It's fantastic, especially because we are so fascinated by the passion for the game.''
Yasser Shehayeb travels with Abbas Naanouh, Fadi Abousaleh (two in their fifties) and Dib Aliya (31), two of whom live in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, Yasser Shehayeb is from Aley in a mountainous area. He studied medicine at Notre Dame University in Beirut and owns his own laboratory. ''My father had a billiards club, I started playing there when I was 12 years old.'' Yasser is married to Amani and has two sons, Joud and Kareem aged 9 and 3.
In the Dutch World Cup, Dib Aliya will start on Sunday, while the other three will come into action on Wednesday and Thursday. Fadi Abousaleh is the highest on the UMB ranking with his 46th position, Yasser Shehayeb is number 56, one position behind Jeffrey Jorissen, one ahead of former world champion Ryuuji Umeda. ''I practice in Lebanon on three brands of match tables and play with a Molinari cue.''
’’I learnt three-cushion on Youtube after I started to love this sport at a young age. From the footage on Kozoom, which I watched like hell to progress, I practiced most the game of Caudron, the maestro, and Dick Jaspers. Meanwhile, I have been champion in Lebanon seven times in a row. And I played matches at World championships against Haeng Jik Kim and Tayfun Tasdemir, among others. Hopefully, the Netherlands will be another wonderful experience. We are very happy to visit the Netherlands, although we don't know what will happen in the next days.''
Thanks Yasser, have a good trip and see you in the Netherlands.
Yasser Shehayeb with his wife Amani and two sons
Yasser Shehayeb during the World championship in Viersen (picture Ton Smilde)