Asian Snooker Championship: Asif only Pakistani left in competition

Cueist carries national hopes as all others crash out

KARACHI: Former IBSF World Champion Mohammad Asif moved into the quarter-finals of the 32nd ACBS Asian Snooker Championship with a 4-2 victory over Iran’s Sohail Vahedi in their last-16 match played in Doha, Qatar.

Asif, who had won 4-2 in the previous round against India’s Sundeep Gulati, will now take on Thailand’s Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn with a semi-finals berth on the line.

Vahedi started strong and twice led by a frame as Asif lost the first and third frames. In fact, it was a much closer affair than the final scoreline suggests as five of the six frames went down to the wire.



Down 2-1, Asif then showed his experience, winning three frames on the trot as he clinched the match 41-54, 53-19, 31-76, 71-56, 89-42 and 71-40.

Meanwhile, Kritsanut ended Mohammad Bilal’s campaign with a 4-1 thrashing in their quarter-finals clash.

Once again, the 4-1 scoreline does not do justice to the grit showed by Bilal, who lost the third and fourth frames by just a few points as Kritsanut prevailed 76-34, 08-80, 65-58, 76-51(66) and 69-16.



In the previous round, Bilal had struck a century break (104) and won 4-1 against Philippines’ Jefrey Roda.

Earlier, Sohail Shehzad threw away a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 against Bahrain’s Habib Subah in their last-32 match.

But the biggest disappointment of them all was Mohammad Sajjad as he lost 4-3 in his last-32 match against Iran’s Sohail Vahedi, who triumphed 28-74, 61-14, 42-54, 76-53, 33-54, 79-0 and 63-32.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd,  2016.

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