Akbar came back from two frames down to claim a 4-2 victory over Ming Wa Man in his third match. PHOTO: FILE EXPRESS
KARACHI:
Pakistan cueists boosted their chances of qualifying directly for the last-32 stage after winning their third-round matches in the IBSF World U21 Championship being played at the Al Fujairah, UAE.
Mohammad Majid Ali made an impressive recovery to beat South Africa’s Aden Carl Joseph 4-2, despite trailing by two frames in the early stages of the match.
Majid stood firm against the challenge to take the score to 3-2, only to see the game being halted as the session timed out.
When play resumed, Majid made sure that the break did not slow down his progress and raced to victory with scores of 29-72, 36-59, 62-27, 74-12, 61-14 and 80-13.
Meanwhile, Hamza Akbar also extended his unbeaten run by thwarting Hong Kong’s Ming Wa Man with a 4-2 win.
Akbar’s match followed Majid’s progress as he also trailed 2-0 initially, but fought back to claim victory. The Pakistani struck a 54-point break in the fourth game to take charge and went on to win by 01-93(67), 61-77, 72-53, 70-39(54), 71-31 and 71-43.
In other matches, Muhammad Faheem beat Brazil’s Gabriel Martins Campos in straight sets with scores of 67-09, 83-28, 50-05 and 63-35, while Muhammad Haris Nadeem won in a similar fashion against Libya’s Abdelrahman Abdelnabi.
“If Majid, Akbar and Faheem gain another victory, they will make it directly to the last-32 of the World Championship,” a Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) official told The Express Tribune.
“Whoever tops the group will directly qualify for the last-32 phase and will not have to go through the last-64 round.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2014.
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