Defending champion Asjad crashes out

Top seeds fall on 3rd day of national snooker event.

KARACHI:

It was a day of upsets as defending champion Asjad Iqbal and Pakistan number one Shahid Aftab both crashed out of the NBP Ranking Snooker Championship currently underway at the Karachi Club.

Iqbal suffered a 4-2 defeat to Mohammad Asif while Aftab, who recently beat former world champion Ken Doherty in the team Snooker World Cup, was outplayed and lost 4-0 to Abdul Sattar, losing 75-35, 47-38, 61-37 and 61-57.

The Pakistan number one blamed the change in conditions for his below-par performance in the tournament.

“There was a huge difference in the playing conditions,” Aftab told The Express Tribune. “This event had harder tables that are not of an international standard. The world team championship in Bangkok had tables with a soft base. I also tried to copy the style of world’s top cueists there. It will take time for me to get used to the conditions here maybe this was the reason for my defeat.”

Iqbal bows out

Iqbal, whose campaign got off to a losing start on the opening day, was sent packing by Asif with scores of 42-57, 81-0, 38-71, 85-0, 72-60, 67-17.

However, experienced cueist Imran Shahzad was lucky to enter the last-16 despite suffering a 4-3 loss in his last group match against Ayaz Khan.

Another seasoned cueist Naveen Perwani also advanced to the knock-out stages by outclassing Rambail Gul 4-1. Mohammad Imran, Asif Toba, Abdul Sattar and Umair Alam were among the players to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the event that will be played today.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2011.