IBSF World Snooker Championship: Bilal cruises in Doha, Masih falls

National champion enters knockout stage with third successive win

KARACHI: National champion Mohammad Bilal cruised into the knockout stage of the IBSF World Snooker Championship after recording a 4-1 victory over New Zealand cueist Sam Bond in Doha yesterday.

The win capped Bilal’s third consecutive triumph as he had earlier defeated Felix Frede and Mohsen Bukshaisha.

In his match against Bond, Bilal won the opening two frames 73-18 and 67-21 but Bond bounced back to claim the third 73-20. However, the Pakistan champion showed no mercy winning the next two frames 70-17 and 100-45 respectively to secure the win.



Meanwhile in another match, Pakistan’s Babar Masif was defeated 4-3 by Iran’s Soheil Vahedi in a see-saw encounter which finished with a scoreline of 60-52, 117-0, 64-69 22-105, 16-63, 94-0, 70-36.

The match also witnessed two century breaks, one apiece for each cueist with Masih striking an exact 100 in the fourth frame.

“A mistake in the final frame cost me the match,” Masih told The Express Tribune from Doha. “I was leading the decisive frame by 30 odd points before I made a mistake and picked a wrong ball [blue] which proved fatal.”



Masih, who has two wins so far, will face Albania’s Arenc Norja in his final match today and the result of the match and other group games will decide his fate at the World Championship.

“Things are not clear at the moment [about knockout stage qualification] but I will go with a must-win attitude in the match,” said Masih.

Meanwhile, former world champion Muhammad Asif was defeated 4-2 by Thomas Dowling.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2016.

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