Hossein Vafaei

Hossein Vafaei (Persian: حسین وفایی ایوری‎; born October 15, 1994) is an Iranian professional snooker player.[1] He was the first Iranian professional snooker player in the history of the game.[2] His attempts to travel to the United Kingdom to qualify for the major tournaments on the snooker calendar were denied due to visa problems, but he gained a UK visa in February 2015.

Hossein Vafaei
Born (1994-10-15) 15 October 1994
Abadan, Iran
Sport country Iran
NicknameThe Persian Prince
Professional2012–
Highest ranking31 (September 2019)
Current ranking 41 (as of 17 August 2020)
Career winnings£276,162
Highest break146:
2019 China Open (qualifying)
Century breaks43
Best ranking finishSemi-final (2017 China Open, 2019 Welsh Open, 2019 China Championship)
Medal record
Representing  Iran
Men's Snooker
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
2017 Ashgabat Team
2017 Ashgabat Singles

Career

2009/2010 season

His first international tournament was the 2009 World Under-21 Amateur Snooker Championship. He reached the last 16 where he lost by five frames to three against Liu Chuang.[3]

2010/2011 season

He participated in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in the snooker singles competition and was beaten 4–1 by Dechawat Poomjaeng in the last 16.[4] In December 2010, he played in the World Amateur Snooker Championship and reached the last 16, where he lost 5–1 to Leo Fernandez.[5]

In April 2011, he reached the final of ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship, but lost 7–3 to Cao Yupeng.[6] Later in the month he participated in ACBS Asian Snooker Championship, however, he could not advance past the group stage. He competed in Group C, and finished in fourth place with one win and three losses.[7]

2011/2012 season

In September 2011, he received a wildcard to participate at the Shanghai Masters, but could not advance to the first round as he lost 5–1 against Fergal O'Brien.[8] In December, he won the World Amateur Snooker Championship by defeating Lee Walker 10–9 in the final.[9][10] He won the title at the age of 17 years and 81 days, which made him the youngest ever winner of the tournament, breaking Ian Preece's record.[11]

Vafaei received a wildcard to participate at the 2012 World Open,[12] but lost 5–2 against Mark King.[13] In April 2012, he won ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship, by defeating Zhang Anda 6–2 in the final.[14] He reached the semi-finals of ACBS Asian Snooker Championship, where he lost 6–3 to Aditya Mehta.[15]

Attempt to turn professional

He received a main snooker tour card courtesy of his World Amateur win to participate in the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons.[2][16] However, due to visa problems he could only participate in the Six-red World Championship in Thailand, where he lost in the last 16 to Judd Trump, and APTC Event 2 in China, where he lost to Li Yuan in the last 64.[17] It was a similar story in his second season as he only played in the World Games (lost 3–0 to Lü Haotian in the first round) and the Six-red World Championship (failed to advance beyond the group stage).[18]

2014 IBSF World Under-21s Championship

In May 2014, Vafaei qualified as the top seed of his group at the 2014 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship by losing only one frame in the preliminary stage.[19] He then beat Poland's Mateusz Baranowski 7–3 in the semi-finals, compiling the first 147 in the history of the tournament in the process.[20] He won the title by defeating Josh Boileau 8–3 in the final.[21]

Special dispensation for the 2014/15 season

In June 2014, Vafaei received a special dispensation to compete on the Main Tour for the 2014/15 season.[22] In late February 2015, it was confirmed that Vafaei had gained a visa, leaving him able to enter the 2015 World Snooker Championship, where he lost 10–3 to Anthony McGill in the opening qualifying round.[23][24]

2015/2016 season

The 2015 Australian Goldfields Open was the first ranking event of the 2015/2016 season and Vafaei qualified for it by beating Charlie Walters 5–3, Zak Surety 5–3, Lee Walker 5–4 and Dominic Dale 5–3. In his debut at the venue stage of a ranking event, Vafaei played Michael White in the opening round where he lost 5–3.[25] He played in the UK Championship for the first time (losing 6–1 to Luca Brecel in the first round) and the Welsh Open (losing 4–2 to Robin Hull in the first round).[26]

2016/2017 season

Vafaei enjoyed wins over Rod Lawler, Zak Surety, Sanderson Lam and Scott Donaldson at the Northern Ireland Open to reach his first ranking event quarter-final, where he lost 5–3 to Mark King.[27][28] He also had a good run at the Welsh Open as he beat Lam, Christopher Keogan and Ali Carter to advance to the fourth round and he was defeated 4–1 by Judd Trump.[29] A month after the Welsh Open, Vafaei also had a good run of form at the China Open, defeating Joe Perry 5–2, Ben Woollaston 5–4 and Rory McLeod 5–3. This booked him a place in the second ranking event quarter-final of his career within the space of a few months. His opponent was to be Judd Trump and Vafaei (the world number 74) was able to keep the world number two at bay and win by 5–3.[30] He lost his first semi-final 6–1 to Mark Williams.[31] After overcoming Hatem Yassen 10–1 and Matthew Selt 10–6, Vafaei was one win away from qualifying for the World Championship, but narrowly lost 10–8 to Tom Ford.[32] He finished the campaign inside the top 64 in the world rankings and retained his place on the tour.[33]

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20
Ranking[34][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 3] 97 [nb 4] 126 89 59 45 40
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 5] Not Held MR WD 2R A WD
International Championship NH A A A LQ LQ WD 2R WD
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR 1R 3R SF
English Open Tournament Not Held A QF 2R 3R
World Open WR A A Not Held LQ WD A 2R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held QF 2R 1R 1R
UK Championship A WD A A 1R 1R 3R 3R 1R
Scottish Open NH MR Not Held 2R 1R WD 1R
European Masters Tournament Not Held WD 1R WD LQ
German Masters A A A A LQ A LQ LQ LQ
World Grand Prix Not Held NH DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Welsh Open A A A A 1R 4R 1R SF 1R
Shoot-Out Variant Format Event 2R A 2R 1R
Players Championship[nb 6] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 1R A A 2R
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship NH 2R RR QF A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic NR WD A A Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open A WD A A 1R Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters WR WD A A LQ A 1R NR
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event WD A A NR
Indian Open Not Held A A NH LQ 3R 2R NH
China Open A A A A LQ SF WD 3R NH
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not heldmeans an event was not held.
MR / Minor-ranking eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
NR / Non-ranking eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking eventmeans an event is/was now a ranking event
  1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. He was an amateur.
  3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  4. Players qualified through special dispensation started the season without prize money ranking points.
  5. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  6. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2011/2012–2012/2013)

Career finals

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Zhao Xintong 2–4

Amateur finals: 2 (2 titles)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2011 World Amateur Snooker Championship Lee Walker 10–9
Winner 2. 2014 World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship Josh Boileau 8–3
gollark: I don't know. Gzip?
gollark: Test it vs something else.
gollark: Returning the vec is faster, or it's 43x faster than a different compression algorithm?
gollark: I'd say probably 20x at least.
gollark: Benchmarks much better than any other competing algorithm.

References
  1. "VAFAEI AYOURI Hossein". Asian Games. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  2. "Hossein Set For Pro Tour". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  3. "IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship 2009". Cue Sports India. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  4. "Snooker (Men) Individual". Cue Sports India. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  5. "World Snooker Championship 2010". International Billiards and Snooker Federation. Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  6. "Asian Championship 2011 - 12th Under-21 Snooker". Cue Sports India. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  7. 2011 Asian Snooker Championship
  8. "Shanghai Masters (2011)". WWW Snooker. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  9. "Ayouri managed, retained the title in Asia". International Billiards and Snooker Federation. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  10. "Results of 2011 IBSF World Men's Snooker Championship". International Billiards and Snooker Federation. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  11. Turner, Chris. "Various Snooker Records". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  12. "2012 Haikou World Open draw and format" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  13. "Haikou World Open (2012)". WWW Snooker. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  14. 13th Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 2012
  15. "2012 Asian Snooker Championship". Cue Sports India. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  16. "The Tour 2012/2013 Season Provisional Qualifying Criteria" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  17. "Hossein Vafaei Ayouri 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  18. "Hossein Vafaei Ayouri 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  20. "Hossein hits the maximum". IBSF. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  21. Pathak, Vivek (18 May 2014). "Second world title for Hossein Vafaei". International Billiards and Snooker Federation. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  22. "Tirapongpaiboon/Ayouri Tour Cards". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  23. "Visa For Vafaei". prosnookerblog.com. Pro Snooker Blog. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  24. "Hossein Vafaei Ayouri 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  25. "Hotshot Hossein Is Bendigo Bound". World Snooker. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  26. "Hossein Vafaei Ayouri 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  27. "Iran's Hossein Vafaei makes history in Northern Ireland Open". Tehran Times. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  28. "'Dreadful' King into Northern Ireland Open last four". Romford Recorder. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  29. "Hossein Vafaei Ayouri 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  30. "China Open snooker: Judd Trump loses to Iranian world number 76 Hossein Vafaei". BBC Sport. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  31. "China Open: Mark Williams to face Mark Selby in final". BBC Sport. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  32. "O'Brien Wins Record Two-Hour Frame". World Snooker. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  33. "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  34. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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