World 6-Red and Team Championship: 22 players through to last-32

Nine out of Pakistan’s initial 14 players make it through to next round.

KARACHI: India’s Dharminder Lilly has been ranked as the top seed for the knockout stage as he, along with 21 other cueists, progressed directly into the last-32 stage on the basis of their group-stage performances.

The draw for the last-42 was made after the completion of the group stages, with the bottom 20 players being pitted against each other while the top 22 were given a bye.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Sajjad and Shahram Changezi were seeded second and third respectively while Babar Masih, former IBSF World Champion Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Majid Ali, Asjad Iqbal and Khurram Agha also made it through to the next round from Pakistan’s contingent.

Mohammad Asif Toba won his last-42 match for a place in the last-32 after winning 5-3 against Hong Kong’s Lin Tang Ho in the best of nine frames.

The first frame turned out to be a close affair between the two players but it was Lin who took a 1-0 lead with just a five-point difference.

It remained a close contest after that as both players looked determined to not let their opponent gain the ascendancy. However, Toba managed to squeeze two victories in the second and third frames by close margins to go 2-1 up.

The fourth frame saw the two players play more attackingly and it turned into an open game with Lin coming out on top to level at 2-2. Toba did not allow Lin to score a single point in the fifth frame as he restored his one-frame advantage before losing the sixth.

But the Pakistan man ensured that the match did not go into a nerve wracking decider by winning the next two frames on the trot, including a perfect final game, and win by a 39-44, 35-22, 34-23, 04-46, 48-00, 01-39, 65-04 and 45-00 scoreline.

Meanwhile, India’s Manan Chandra pulled off a remarkable comeback victory against UAE’s Salim Ali Alsuwaidi, winning 5-3 despite being 0-3 down at one stage.

In the match between two Qatari players, Ali Alobaidli beat Mohsin Al-Abdulrahman 5-3 while Malaysia’s Moh Keen Hoo triumphed 5-2 against Hong Kong’s Chau Hon Man.

India’s Varun Kumar lost the first frame against Hong Kong’s Nansen Sin Man Wan but hit back by winning the next five to triumph by scores of 26-39, 42-20, 45-07, 57-08, 49-06 and 39-14.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Bilal won 5-4 against India’s Sourav Kothari while UAE’s Mohamed alJoakar won in similar fashion against Qatar’s Bashar Hussain.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th,  2015.

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