Haris, Naseem storm into U21 Asian Snooker quarters

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Haris Tahir and Naseem Akhtar stormed into the quarter-finals of the ACBS U21 Asian Snooker Championship 2017 in Chandigarh, India.

According to the information provided by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) here on Wednesday, both cueists, having remained unbeaten in the preliminary rounds, overcame their respective opponents in the pre-quarter-finals to inch closer to the trophy.

The 17-year-old Haris, who was elevated to the second position in the reseedings for the knockout phase, confirmed his pedigree by overwhelming Ishpreet Singh Chadha of India 4-1 with the frame scores of 49-40, 75-39, 7-61, 74-20, 45-3 in their pre-quarter-final.

In the quarter-finals, Haris will be pitted against 16-year-old Yuan Sijun of China, who thrashed Yun Fung Tam of Hong Kong in straight frames.

The 16-year-old Naseem, who was placed fifth in the reseedings having won all three league matches, had to bring his reserve energy into play in taming the 20-year-old Ming Wa Man of Hong Kong 4-2 with the frame scores of 79-44, 58-23,88-80, 64-23, 17-91, 65-62 in the pre-quarter-finals.

Naseem’s opponent in the quarter-final will be China’s 18-year-old Zhang Jiankang, who hammered Aung Phyo of Myanmar in straight frames in the pre-quarter-finals.

As many as four Chinese forced their way into the quarter-finals. Asutosh Padhy is the only home cueist to have progressed to the last-eight stage as he overcame Ka Wai Cheung of China 4-2.

Pongsak Chongjairak was the lone survivor from Thailand, another powerhouse of Asian snooker.

Pakistan’s third cueist, Mohammad Rafiq, had crashed in the first round as he lost all three matches.  A total of 24 cueists, divided in six groups, had entered the competition.