Asjad, Sohail in 6-Reds Snooker pre-quarters

KARACHI: Pakistan’s cueists had mixed fortunes in the knockout phase of the twin international snooker events on Thursday at Sharm-e-Sheikh in Egypt.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), Asjad Iqbal and Sohail Shahzad stormed into the pre-quarter-finals of the IBSF 6-Reds Snooker Championship.

Pakistan-1, comprising Babar Masih and Asjad, cruised into the pre-quarter-finals of the IBSF Team Snooker Championship.

Mohammad Bilal and Babar crashed in the round of 64 of the 6-Reds competition.

Pakistan-2, featuring Bilal and Sohail, was eliminated in the round of 32 of the team event.

Pakistan-1, having topped the Group C, extended their brilliant form, beating Egypt-4 in straight frames with the scores of 108-20, 61-12, 76-36.

Pakistan-2, which advanced to the knockout rounds by winning three of its four matches in the Group B, fell at the first hurdle with Hong Kong-3 cleaning them 3-1 with the frame scores of 71-42, 54-64, 79-9, 79-16.

Asjad forced his way into the 6-Reds pre-quarters by overpowering Anuj Uppal of India 4-2 with the scores of 61-1, 49-15, 36-37, 39-10, 22-31, 41-13. He fired a break of 56 in the opening frame.

His opponent in the last 16 clash will be Darren Morgan of Wales.

In the round of 64 encounter, he had outwitted Mohamed Reza Hassan of Malaysia 4-2 with the frame scores of 47-0, 51-4, 40-11, 9-56, 34-40, 47-11.

Sohail forced his way into the last 16 by edging out Simon Dent of England 4-3 with the scores of 31-34, 30-1, 17-42, 42-4, 53-17, 9-56, 45-9.

He will take on Souarv Kothari of India in the pre-quarters.

In the earlier round, he had prevailed over Ahmad Saif of Qatar 4-2 with the scores of 22-39, 68-0, 61-0, 13-45, 36-25, 58-2. Darren Morgan of Wales proved too good for Babar in the round of 64 fixture, defeating him 4-1 with the frame scores of 68-0, 37-4, 18-33, 44-0. 68-0.

Karam Fatima of Syria caused the exit of Bilal, beating him 4-2 with the scores of 10-40, 40-26, 32-5, 5-44, 44-14, 43-5.