Asjad, Imran off to winning start By Syed Khalid Mahmood KARACHI: Pakistan’s Asjad Iqbal and Imran Shahzad got off to a winning start in the IBSF World Snooker Championships 2017 which cued off in Doha, Qatar on Saturday. According to the information made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), Asjad Iqbal whacked Waleed Majid of Qatar in straight frames with the scores of 79-39, 98-0, 90-30, 69-13 in the men’s championship while Imran Shahzad meted out similar treatment to Wang Chooi Tan of Belgium 3-0 with the scores being 75-17, 62-22, 59-10 in the masters championship. The 2017 World Championships for men, women and masters, being organised simultaneously by the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF), will continue until November 27. A total of 88 cueists from 36 countries, including four from Pakistan, are taking part in the men’s event while 54 participants from 27 countries, three of them from Pakistan, are in action in the masters competition. There are 16 groups for the preliminary rounds in the men’s contest. Mohammad Asif, a former world champion, heads Group E in the presence of Mateusz Baranowski (Poland), Ahmed Aly Elsayed (USA), Ko Htet (Myanmar), Pandurangaiah (India) and Emad Seif (Yemen). Debutant Mubashir Raza has been drawn in Group L along with Ahmed Saif (Qatar), Andreas Ploner (Austria), Pawel Rogoza (Poland) and Rafii Amrou (Morocco). Asjad Iqbal has been placed in Group M in the company of Steve Mifsud (Australia), Grzegorz Biemadski (Poland), Keishin Kamihashi (Japan), Waleed Majid (Qatar) and Yilmaz Yildrim (Turkey). Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, another debutant from Pakistan, features in Group Q with the likes of Brendan O’Donoghue (Ireland), Yuttapop Pakpoj (Thailand), Ivan Kakovsky (Russia), Zayed Alkhayarin (Qatar) and Osama Anga (Libya). In the masters championship, Khurram Hussain Agha finds himself in Group MC with Darren Morgan (Wales), Sinan Cetinkaya (Turkey), Alexey Borminskiy (Russia) and Juha Lehto (Finland). Imran Shahzad figures in Group MD with Dale Kwok (New Zealand), Noel Rodrigues Moreira (Brazil), Ihab Al-Salih (Iraq), Richard Emery (England) and Wang Chooi Tan (Belgium) while Mohammad Yousuf, a former champion, is in Group ME with Chris Todd (Australia), Anthony Bonnar (Ireland), Frank Schroder (Germany), Mohammad Al-Binali (Qatar) and Januario Souza (Brazil). This time the IBSF has decided that the top four cueists from each of the 16 groups will qualify for the knockout phase starting with the round of 64 in the men’s championship while the top three cueists from each of the 10 groups will make it to the knockout stage with the round of 30 in the masters championship.
