A passion for snooker has swept Iran over the past few years, a trend fans attribute largely to the country’s first internationally renowned star Hossein Vafaei, known as the “Persian Prince.”
Ever more enthusiasts in the Islamic republic have taken to the cue sport played on a billiards table, and Tehran last week hosted an Asian regional tournament.
“In the past, Iran did not have much of a place in the Asian and world championships in billiards and snooker,” Iranian Bowling, Billiard and Boules Federation referee Mohammad Afghil Morshedi said.
Photo: AFP
Yet in recent years, the sport — invented by British officers in colonial-era India — “has gained many enthusiasts ... and now we are among the top three teams in Asia in winning titles and medals,” Morshedi said.
Much of this is due to one man.
“Mr Vafaei is the brand of this sport in Iran,” Morshedi said. “Whenever the name of Iran is brought up in snooker, his name will come up too.”
Vafaei, 28, is Iran’s first professional snooker player, and the first to win a world ranking title, last year in Leicester, England.
“I’m happy to make history for my country, that was a very good moment for me and snooker,” he said at the time.
Vafaei, who hails from Abadan in the southwestern province of Khuzestan bordering Iraq, said in an interview last week with the Islamic Republic News Agency that Iran has “very little snooker history.”
He said that he has received little official support in his home country, adding that “no one has done anything for me, and I have not received any money or reward.”
“Most of our athletes have the same problem,” he added.
Nonetheless, he has received huge gratitude from Iran’s snooker and billiards enthusiasts.
“Reaching the position that Vafaei has attained is the ultimate goal of almost all Iranian snooker players,” federation employee Shirin Zarrin said.
“He has been very impactful,” she said. “If you ask any Iranian snooker player, they will cite Vafaei as their role model.”
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