ACBS Snooker Championships: Masih, Asif capture team title for Pakistan

Duo overpowers Iran’s Vahedi, Sarkosh in final after defeating India in last-four

KARACHI: Pakistan won the Asian Confederation for Billiards Sports Championship’s (ACBS) team event as they defeated Iran 3-1 yesterday in the final in Al-Fujairah, UAE.

Pakistan were represented by Babar Masih and Muhammad Asif, while Sohail Vahedi and Amir Sarkosh were playing for Iran.

Masih, the country’s second-ranked cueist, claimed the opening singles frame of the match 88-40 against Vahedi before Asif helped Pakistan take a 2-0 lead when he outplayed Sarkosh 76-14 in the second frame.

Vahedi and Sarkosh hit back and won the doubles frame 76-20, but Asif finished off the best-of-five-frame final in his reverse singles match, which he won 74-15.

“We’re proud to have won the team championship for Pakistan,” said Masih while talking to The Express Tribune after the final. “We’ll definitely try our best to continue these performances in future international events. The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) supported us throughout the competition and we’re grateful for that.”

Teammate Asif, who is a former IBSF world champion, added that he wants to be consistent in international competitions.

“I’m very happy that we won this title at the first ACBS Championship,” said the veteran. “We’ve set a benchmark for Pakistan and will do everything to maintain it.”

Earlier in the day, Pakistan defeated India 3-2 in the semi-final.

Asif conceded the first frame 61-44 to Sundeep Gulati and Masih also lost to Ishpreet Singh Chadha 59-46. However, Pakistan bounced back in the doubles frame, which Asif and Masih snatched from Chadha and Manan Chandra 66-53.

They followed up to level the match 2-2 in the fourth frame, as Masih outplayed Gulati 79-36 and Asif sealed the win for Pakistan in the fifth frame 72-39 against Chadha.

Pakistan were fielding the country’s top three players — Muhammad Bilal, Masih and Asif — in four events at the championships.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2016.             

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