Asif, Babar and Bilal cruise into last 32

KARACHI: Pakistan’s trio of Mohammad Asif, Babar Masih and Mohammad Bilal stormed into the round of 32 of the IBSF World Men’s Snooker Championship 2016 while the duo of Naveen Kumar Perwani and Imran Shahzad advanced to the round of 32 of the IBSF World Masters Snooker Championship 2016 being staged in Doha, Qatar.

According to the results made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) here on Saturday, all three Pakistani cueists made winning starts in the knockout phase of the men’s event while Mohammad Azhar Khan was the odd casualty in the round of 64 of the master’s event.

Asif came from behind to overpower Ryan Thomerson of Australia 4-2 with the frame scores of 0-140, 65-53 (65-52, 45-54, 120-22, 99-7). His opponent had started off with a bang, firing a break of 140 in the opening frame but Asif kept his cool to take the fiercely-fought second frame with the help of a break of 51.

He turned the tables decisively with a frame of 102 in the fifth frame and clinched the issue with another fluent break of 78 in the very next frame.

Babar Masih was also made to work hard by his opponent Alex Tuabman of Wales before overcoming him 4-2 with the scores of 64-40, 30-97, 67-40, 63-36, 47-52, 90-0 and the breaks of 45 and 89.

Bilal, on the other end, registered a cakewalk win over Jason Todd of New Zealand in his round-of-64 encounter, whipping him in straight frames with the scores of 85-21, 81-17, 47-36, 94-19 and signing off with a break of 53 in the final frame.

In men’s last-32 round, Asif will be pitted against Michael Judge of Ireland, Babar will be up against Pankaj Advani of India and Bilal will tackle Thomas Dowling of Ireland.

Imran Shahzad began his knockout campaign in the master’s event by whipping Mohamed Cader of Mauritius in straight frames with the scores of 78-12, 69-46, 81-42 while Naveen Perwani edged out Munier Cassim of South Africa 3-2 with the scores of 77-31, 66-67, 50-46, 47-57, 64-49.

In round of 32, Imran will lock horns with Mohamed Noveir of Egypt and Perwani will clash with Brendan Thomas of Ireland.

Mario Van Herk of Belgium brought about the demise of Azhar Khan, beating him 3-2 after a marathon duel with the scores of 32-56, 58-59, 53-38, 50-31, 63-51.

Earlier in their final-league outings, Imran had outsmarted Issa Alrasi of Saudi Arabia 3-1 with the scores of 67-26, 13-69, 72-21, 77-32, Azhar had blanked Cesal Thomas of Germany in straight frames with the scores of 53-19, 62-25, 62-35 and Perwani had outclassed Palmi Einarsson of Iceland 3-1 with the frame scores of 72-1, 41-68, 80-11, 69-19.