Asian Snooker Championship: Asif, Sajjad, Bilal cruise into last 32

Defeat Karam, Ameen and Shehab respectively to progress in Qatar event

KARACHI: The trio of Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad and Mohammad Bilal have moved into the last-32 stage of the Asian Snooker Championship, being played in Doha, Qatar.

Asif defeated Qatar’s Abdul Lateef alFawal 4-1 with scores of 97-29 (89), 79-40, 64-63, 25-79 and 73-43, while he was involved in a tougher match against Syria’s Karam Fatima, which he won 4-3.

It was a see-saw encounter between the two and at one point Karam led 3-2. However, Asif bounced back and won the final two frames to finish 69-62, 36-55, 80-40, 55-67, 34-72, 75-14 and 62-45 and shock the Syrian.



Asif has now won all three of his matches in his group and joins compatriots Sajjad and Bilal, who are also unbeaten in the tournament yet.

Sajjad defeated Sri Lanka’s Mohammad Shamil Ameen 4-1 by scores of 62-30, 64-41, 63-54(56), 35-56 and 72-22(72) to complete his third win, while Bilal overcame UAE’s Mohammad Shehab 4-3 by scores of 66-53, 33-99(50), 64-37, 0-69(60), 78-34, 09-65(59) and 62-27 to maintain his unbeaten run.



Meanwhile, Sohail Shahzad — the fourth Pakistani in the event — also remains in contention to progress into the knockout stage as he won 4-0 on day two against Iraq’s Adel Ibrahim.

Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Sheikh said that he is hopeful that Shahzad will join his compatriots in the last-32.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th,  2016.

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