Aly Takes US Title
Ahmed Aly El Sayed became the first player in over a decade to successfully defent the US National title with a sensational 5-4 victory against Yi Fei Mei in the final at the Embassy Billiards Club in San Gabriel, California.
Aly who has become the first player to win back-to-back Championships since Tom Kollins in 1999, came out on top in a deciding frame shoot-out for the second year in succession.
Yi, making his first appearance in the US National event, won the United States Snooker Association Tour event at the Embassy Billiards Club, made a break of 42 in the opening frame to lead 1-0.
Aly responded with a 35 break early in the second that helped him level the scores on the colours.
Yi regained a one frame advantage at 2-1 with a break of 64.
It was all square at half time though as the defending champion responded with a solid run of 49.
After the interval, Aly, a 30-year-old from Brooklyn, NY, went ahead for the first time in the match after claiming the fifth frame on the final colours.
Yi, was the local favourite in the final coming from nearby Monterey Park in California, took back the momentum and won frames six and seven and was now on ‘the hill’, just one frame away from taking his first National Championship title.
Aly found himself one down with two to play, a position that Aly had already recovered from in his quarterfinal against Romil Azement.
He won the eighth frame fairly convincingly and always had the upper hand in the final frame which he duly won to claim his second National Championship.
Aly, who has now firmly established himself at the top of the new United States Snooker Association rankings, is now eligible to represent the United States at the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championships in Syria later this year.
