Pakistan on the brink despite comeback

Iqbal-Munir placed fifth after third day of qualifying for golf World Cup.

KARACHI:

Pakistan golfers Shabbir Iqbal and Mohammad Munir displayed an impressive third-round to leapfrog on the points table in the Asian Qualifying tournament currently underway in Petaling.

However, the country’s top duo only has a slim chance of qualifying for the Missions Hills World Cup as the fourth and final round concludes today.

Both Iqbal and Munir recovered from a sloppy display of 76 in the second round, which pushed them one place down to seventh after the pair had carded a 68 on the opening day.

The duo produced its best show of the event in the third round, capturing a card of 66 that brought them joint fifth with Sri Lanka, with a cumulative score of 210.

But despite the inspiring show, Pakistan lag far behind the leaders with only an outside chance of going through to the Missions Hills.

With just the top three teams, out of a total of 16 competing pairs, earning a ticket to November’s global event, Pakistan are 11 behind leaders Singapore, who carded 66 in the third round and maintained their top spot with a total of 199.

Singapore are followed by India at 200 after Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri played another impressive round, firing a 64 to reduce the lead. Malaysia and New Zealand share third place to complete the contenders’ list for the World Cup. Both teams, with 204 points, are ahead of Philippines and Korea who have 206.

Meanwhile, Pakistan are followed by Myanmar (215), Indonesia (216), Chinese Taipei (216) and Honk Kong (220) ahead of bottom-placed Vietnam, Senegal and Brunei.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2011.