JEDDAH: Khaled Al-Ghamdi, a Saudi junior billiards team player, scored an important victory on Aug. 10, beating American professional pool player Skyler Woodward in the European Open Championship that concluded on Sunday in Germany.
The European Open Pool Championship 2022 was a nine-ball pool tournament held from Aug. 9-14.
Matchroom Pool, the world’s leading pool promoter, tweeted a video of the match with the message: “Saudi Arabia, you’ve got a special player on your hands! 17-year-old Khalid Alghamdi comes back from 6-2 down against two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Skyler Woodward to win 9-7.”
The commentator in the footage said: “Remember, he started to play pool on a computer, and his father Omar said ‘why not try the real thing?’”
Al-Ghamdi took to the game “like a duck to the water”, and after scoring the nine balls smoothly, the commentator said: “The big story here, all the way from Saudi Arabia, Al-Ghamdi beats Skyler, what a story at the inaugural European Open.”
Al-Ghamdi’s legendary win was made all the more exciting given he had trailed 6-2 at one stage.
His achievement has opened the door to the prospect of playing against other international stars in future.
Fahad Nazer, spokesperson for the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC tweeted the video of Al-Ghamdi’s brilliant performance and said: “#Saudi Vision 2030 has established a sports sector in the Kingdom in record time, generating thousands of jobs & improving the quality of life for everyone living in the Kingdom in the process.
“It has also led to the development of world-class athletes in several sports.”
The tweet went viral as Arab billiards fans were left stunned by, and proud of, Al-Ghamdi’s professional performance.
Khalid Abalhassan @twiffessor said: “A big win Khalid. Keep going.”
@Muteb_albalawi said: “Sensational performance congrats Khalid.”
Al-Ghamdi started playing when he was just 10 years old, and despite his young age, he trained hard.
When he was 14, he was the first and youngest Arab — and Saudi — to win first place at the 2019 USA Pool League National in the 8-ball Singles Junior Division, in Las Vegas.
In November 2021, Al-Ghamdi claimed a gold medal in the nine-ball competition for juniors at the West Asian Billiards and Snooker Championships in Dubai.
