IBSF World Championship: Perwani off to winning start in Masters event

Pakistan cueist defeats Iran’s Bassiri 3-0 to move to next round

KARACHI: Cueist Naveen Perwani began his IBSF World Snooker Championship campaign in style as he defeated Iran’s Ali Bassiri in straight frames at the Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar yesterday.

The 45-year-old took the first frame 75-33 with a break of 53 and dominated the second 92-31. He sealed the win in 66-29 with a break of 39 in the third and the last frame.

In another match, Imran Shahzad triumphed against Austria’s Christian Hochmayer 3-1 on Saturday, while Muhammad Azhar Khan will play his first match today against Bahrain’s Zuhair Alelaiwat.

It is after a decade that Pakistan are making a comeback in the masters’ category after Muhammad Yousaf won the IBSF World Masters title in 2006. And Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association official Naveed Kapadia is satisfied by the Pakistani cueists’ showing in Qatar.



“It has been good performance by Perwani and Shahzad so far,” Kapadia told The Express Tribune. “We haven’t sent any players after Yousaf because we didn’t have anyone above 40 who was good enough to compete at that level.”

He further added, “We have a very good chance of winning the masters’ category because both Shahzad and Perwani had a good start, while Azhar is a seasoned player as well. We should be qualifying for the next round easily.”

In the masters’ category the tournament is featuring 86 players from 55 countries.



Meanwhile in the men’s event, 2012 IBSF world champion Muhammad Asif enjoyed an impressive start against Hisham Nadi as he won his match 4-0 late on Saturday night.

Asif also managed to pull-off the highest break of the competition in his first match as he won the second frame with a break of 138.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2016.

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