ISLAMABAD: Pakistan secured a berth in the final of theACBS Asian 15-Red Men’s Team Snooker Championship 2024 held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a victory over Hong Kong on Thursday night.
The team of Asjad Iqbal and Awais Munir came from behind in the semi-final after the defeat in the first set to win 3-1 against Hong Kong. In the first singles match, Iqbal was defeated 47-72. Munir won his frame 80-44 to level the match at 1-1.
In the doubles frame, Pakistan played a 99-clearance break to secure victory. Iqbal defeated Nansen Wan 28-82 in his second singles match and bagged a win.
Earlier, Pakistan beat India 2, Sarav Kothari and Hussain Khan, with a score of 3-0 to reach the semifinal stage. Pakistan's winning scores were 63-35, 75-22, and 70-06.
The team has been on a roll in the competition. On the opening day, Pakistan won two matches in their group. Pakistan took a bright start when they downed Saudi Arabia (2) 3-0 with the frame scores being 89-0(76), 64-23, 81-01.
The Green-shirts then conquered Myanmar 3-0 to make it to the quarter-finals. The frame scores were 87-39, 72-45, 71-25.
In the Asian Team championship, 18 teams have been placed in six groups. After round matches, the top four teams qualify directly for the quarter-finals. The remaining eight teams play pre-quarter-finals and the winners join the already four qualified teams in the quarter-finals.
Earlier, Munir won the Asian 6-Red Snooker Championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after beating Hong Kong's cueist Nansen Wan.
Munir secured a 6-3 victory against his opponent. The game was tied at 2-2 and Munir won three sets straight and made his lead 5-2. In the eighth frame, Nansen made a comeback.
However, in the ninth frame, Munir displayed excellent control and potting to clinch the victory. Munir won the match with the scores 0-65, 35-26, 27-36, 38-20, 0-65, 13-46, 8-60, 34-0, 27-40.