MANAMA // The name Judd Trump has been bandied about in the snooker world for many years - and he is still only 19 years of age.
The young man from Bristol in England became the youngest person to make a 147 when, as a 14-year-old, he achieved a maximum break in an under-16 tournament, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan's 13-year-old record.
Here was a young man destined for great things.
He turned professional at 16 and soon became the youngest player to reach the final stages of a ranking event when he qualified for the Welsh Open.
Last year he became the youngster player for 14 years to reach the World Championship finals at Sheffield. And just a few short weeks ago he was a semi-finalist in the Grand Prix in Glasgow - beating world champion O'Sullivan along the way.
A lot was expected of him here. But, sadly, he failed to live up to his hype yesterday when he was beaten 5-1 by the Northern Irishman Mark Allen, who, compared to young Trump, is a "golden oldie" at 22.
Trump took the opening frame with breaks of 43 and 47 - but lost the next five. He will be disappointed as he could have actually won the match 5-1 as he had wonderful opportunities in all the last four frames.
Allen began the third frame with 48 before Trump jumped in, only to fail on 49, allowing his opponent to take it with 31.
In the next Trump came from 30-0 but missed when on 58. Allen cleared for 3-1. Trump looked certain to take the fifth frame but erred when his break was on 50 and Allen responded with 69. Victory was completed for the Ulsterman with a 54.
The day's biggest shock came when Michael Judge, from the Republic of Ireland, defeated the world No 7 Ali Carter 5-3.
@Email:cwhebell@thenational.ae
Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.