Aly keeps NYAC hopes alive
filed on Saturday, May 28, 2017. 8:19pm PT/USA
The hopes for the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) to have a member win this year's United States National Snooker Championship lay firmly at the cue of Ahmed Aly Elsayed, as the former three-times champion books his appearance in the semifinals.
Ahmed Aly Elsayed (left) and Saif Ibrahim pictured prior to their quarterfinal encounter
Photo © SnookerUSA.com
With two NYAC members reaching the quarterfinals, there has been keen interest in the Championship and representation will continue with Aly's defeat of Saif Ibrahim 4-0, however Ian O'Mahony, who also made it to the quarterfinals two years ago, lost 4-0 to the very impressive Renat Denkha who compiled a break of 64 along the way.
Renat Denkha (left) and Ian O'Mahony pictured before the commencement of their quarterfinal tie
Photo © SnookerUSA.com
The form and confidence of the number three seed, Ajeya Prabhakar, continues to improve unabated since scraping through his group, as the twice former champion played wonderfully solid to defeat Omar Balsara 4-1 who had performed so well throughout this Championship.
Omar Balsara (left) and Ajeya Prabhakar pictured before their quarterfinal battle
Photo © SnookerUSA.com
When the playoffs for this Championship back in 2004 where played at the NYAC, Brooklyn's Raymond Fung was the runner-up and he again has been performing very strongly here with efficiency and very little fuss. He continued this approach during his quarterfinal with Laszlo Kovacs to secure a 4-1 success.
Raymond Fung and Laszlo Kovacs pictured just before their quartfinal got underway
Photo © SnookerUSA.com
The semifinals will commence tomorrow, Memorial Day Monday at 10am.
The quarterfinal results as follows:
Quarterfinals
(Best-of-7 frames) |
| Match ID |
Player |
|
Player |
| QF1 |
Ajeya Prabhakar (California) 3 |
4 - 1 |
Omar Balsara (Virginia) |
| QF2 |
Raymond Fung (New York) 4 |
4 - 1 |
Laszlo Kovacs (New York) |
| QF3 |
Renat Denkha (Illinois) |
4 - 0 |
Ian O'Mahony (New York) |
| QF4 |
Ahmed Aly Elsayed (New York) 2 |
4 - 0 |
Saif Ibrahim (Michigan) |
The semifinal draw as follows:
Semifinals
(Best-of-7 frames) |
| Match ID |
Player |
|
Player |
| SF1 |
Ajeya Prabhakar (California) 3 |
vs. |
Raymond Fung (New York) 4 |
| SF2 |
Ahmed Aly Elsayed (New York) 2 |
vs. |
Renat Denkha (Illinois) |
The winner of the Championship will be crowned the 2017 United States National Snooker Champion, and alongside the runner-up will gain automatic selection to represent the United States at this year's International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championships which will take place in fall in Malta.
Full coverage of the 2017 United States National Snooker Championship will continue here on SnookerUSA.com.
