6-Red Snooker Championship: Two Pakistanis advance to Asian quarter-finals

Masih downs Qatari opponent, Asif beats compatriot Bilal

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif and Babar Masih progressed into the quarter-finals of the Asian 6-Red Snooker Championship being played in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Asif will take on former professional cueist Pankaj Advani of India, while Masih will play against Afghanistan’s Mohammad Rais Senzahi for a place in the semi-finals.

Masih, who is playing an international event for the first time outside Pakistan, hopes that all the hard work he has put in practice will help him continue surging ahead, as his aim is to return home with nothing less than the title.



“This is my first international championship outside Pakistan, but so far it has been going great for me thanks to the hard work I put in the camp,” Masih told The Express Tribune. “We used to practice for 10 hours daily and that has certainly trained me to play with control. I knew it would be difficult, but I believe that now I can challenge for the title as my confidence is high and that is what you want in knockout stages.”

Masih beat Qatar’s Ali alObaidli 5-3 in the last-16 match with an overall scoreline of 37-0, 26-46, 36-4, 43-36, 45-20, 7-40, 9-41, 45-0.

Meanwhile, former IBSF world champion and ex Asian 6-Red Championship winner Asif hoped he would capture the title once again.



He came back from 3-1 down to beat compatriot Mohammad Bilal, ultimately winning 5-3 in an exciting match.

Bilal had an explosive start as he struck a 72-point break in the first frame and then won the third and fourth frames as well.

Caught in a tough situation, Asif brought all his experience into play and went on to win by scores of 4-72(72), 34-40, 59-0(59), 26-41, 71-0, 33-18, 68-04, 53-27.

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

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