IBSF World Snooker Championship: Bilal tops group, maintains perfect record

Downs Sweden’s Sharity 4-1 to stay undefeated in group stages

KARACHI: National champion Muhammad Bilal defeated Sweden’s Belan Sharity 4-1 to top his group following an unbeaten run in the round-robin stage of the IBSF World Snooker Championship in Doha yesterday.

The Mandi Bahauddin-based cueist will enter the knockout stage with four successive victories under his belt and he will get a bye in the first knockout round by virtue of winning all his group games.

Before victory over Sharity, Bilal had defeated Sam Bond (New Zealand), Felix Frede (Germany) and Mohsen Bukshaisha (Qatar).



The Pakistani cueist was in sublime form yesterday and comfortably overcame his Swedish counterpart. Except for a mistake in the second frame, which he lost, Bilal dominated his opponent throughout the match winning by a scoreline of 96-33, 25-59, 64-52, 80-51, 81-16.

He also smashed two half-century breaks en route to his triumph.

“Bilal is in top form and he is Pakistan’s main hope for the title,” Naveed Kapadia, a Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) official, told The Express Tribune. “Bilal has been doing really well this year and maintained his form since winning the 2016 National Championship earlier this year.”

Meanwhile another Pakistani, Babar Masih, also qualified for the knockout stage after thrashing Arenc Norja of Albania 4-0 in his final group match.



Masih, who lost to Iranian Soheil Vahedi in his previous match and had his knockout-round qualification hanging in the balance, returned to form and smashed a couple of half-century breaks to win by a scoreline of 90-06, 62-34, 99-02, 91-07 and secure his place in the next round.

Meanwhile in the Masters event, Pakistan’s Mohammad Azhar fell to Cader Mohamed of Mauritius 3-1 in his group match. Mohamed recorded victory with a 56-37, 35-53, 62-33, 69-30 scoreline.



In Wednesday’s late night match, Imran Shehzad outsmarted Englishman Graham Beardmore, with a break of 128 points being the highlight of the match. The veteran Pakistan cueist also smashed two half century breaks during the 27-92, 128-01, 89-01, 54-04 victory.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2016.

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