Hossein Vafaei is an Iranian professional snooker player. He was the first Iranian professional snooker player in the history of the game. 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.
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. In December, he won the World Amateur Snooker Championship by defeating Lee Walker 10–9 in the final. 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. Vafaei received a wildcard to participate at the 2012 World Open, but lost 5–2 against Mark King. In April 2012, he won ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship, by defeating Zhang Anda 6–2 in the final. He reached the semi-finals of ACBS Asian Snooker Championship, where he lost 6–3 to Aditya Mehta.
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. 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. It was a similar story in his second season as he only played in the World Games and the Six-red World Championship.
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. 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. He won the title by defeating Josh Boileau 8–3 in the final.
In June 2014, Vafaei received a special dispensation to compete on the Main Tour for the 2014/15 season. 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.
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. 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. 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 was able to keep the world number two at bay and win by 5–3. He lost his first semi-final 6–1 to Mark Williams. 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. He finished the campaign inside the top 64 in the world rankings and retained his place on the tour.
