Hossein Vafaei speaks out on challenge of playing on during Iran war

Iran’s Hossein Vafaei returns to the Crucible on Wednesday and does so during an incredibly stressful time as war continues in his home country.

The 31-year-old remains the only Iranian player to appear at the Crucible and will do so for a fifth time this year.

He breezed through qualifying, beating Michal Szubarczyk 10-2 and Gao Yang 10-4 to book his first round clash with Si Jiahui.

Vafaei has pulled off those impressive results amid the backdrop of war in Iran, which understandably makes focussing on his snooker very difficult.

The one-time ranking event winner says his family in Iran are safe, but it has been a very hard time nonetheless.

‘I’m fighting as well for my country, for my family. And I’m trying my best. Everything that happens, happens, but I’m going to give it all,’ Vafaei said after securing his place at the Crucible.

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‘It’s been very hard. Very, very hard. Imagine…I don’t know how to say, I don’t want to get involved to that. But it’s been tough. Yeah, very tough.’

Vafaei is based in Sheffield, where he practices alongside fellow professionals at one of the city’s snooker academies.

Concentrating on practice has been very difficult as bad news has been a regular distraction of late.

‘It’s tough, you know. You get the bad texts in your day, you can’t focus on your job,’ he explained. ‘Imagine lots of things happening, and how can I focus on everything?

‘To be an Iranian, you’re like ten people, you’re lifting too many things on your head. And it’s tough, it’s very tough. No one knows how tough it is.’

Injury has also been an issue for Vafaei this season and he says he has been feeling the pressure after a poor start to the campaign, although his form has picked up of late.

‘I’m fighting as well. I’m fighting to make Iranians proud as well,’ he said. ‘So it’s tough. It’s very tough. I’m under lots of pressure.

‘I don’t have a good season. A lot of people have been talking like, “Where is he? What’s he doing?” They’ve been thinking I’m going to stop playing snooker. But I had a tough year. Mentally, personally and everything. And thanks God I’m in a good situation now. And let’s see what’s going to happen.’

Explaining the shoulder and neck injury which hampered him during 2025, the Prince of Persia said: ‘I had a Grade 4 (tear), and then I had to take two, three months off, and after that I lost my form.

‘It was tough to go back to my form, to find something and the struggle starts from there, to be honest with you. Before I couldn’t even play the left hand, because I couldn’t hold my cue. Now I can hold my cue, I can play a little bit of left hand as well.’

Thankfully Vafaei did not need an operation, saying: ‘I just did physio and acupuncture. It started from the fifth disc of my neck, and it was hurting my fingers and all the nerves on my left hand side.’

The world number 32 memorably criticised the Crucible as a venue during the 2024 World Championship, but says he is delighted that the tournament will now remain at the Sheffield theatre until at least 2045.

‘I’m so happy the Crucible is going to stay,’ he said. ‘I’m so happy for the fans. I’m so happy for England to not let the story of their country go somewhere else.

This was the big move for UK sports and UK snooker. It was great news. I can’t wait to go back and play in front of such lovely fans. UK loves their snooker and it’s a completely different atmosphere.’

Vafaei did suggest that UK events still have work to do in terms of how players are looked after, compared to tournaments in China.

‘The Chinese events, they have to get there as well. UK tournaments have to get like Chinese tournaments as well,’ he said. ‘The way they give service to the players is completely different. How they look after the players.

‘But it’s such great news for snooker, especially the younger generation who love to play in the Crucible. And I would like to say thanks to World Snooker for keeping the Crucible.’

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