Muhammad Asif reaches World Snooker Championship quarter-finals

Pakistan's Muhammad Asif has advanced to the quarterfinals of the IBSF World Snooker Championship after a tense 4-3 victory over Qatar's Ahmed Saif in the pre-quarterfinals in Doha.

Asif will face UAE's Muhammad Shehab in the upcoming quarterfinal match. Meanwhile, another Pakistani contender, Asjad Iqbal, was eliminated after a 2-4 loss to Cyprus’s Michael Georgiou in his pre-quarterfinal match.

The tournament in Qatar has seen tough competition, with Asif now carrying Pakistan’s hopes for a win.

On August 24, Pakistan’s snooker team was prevented from participating in the upcoming World Under-17 and Under-21 Snooker Championships held in India's Bangalore state after New Delhi refused to issue visas for the Pakistani cueists.

The championship which was scheduled from August 24 to 31 featured team consisting of cueists Ahsan Ramzan, Hamza Ilyas, and Husnain Akhtar, along with Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association Chairman Alamgir Sheikh and referee Naveed Kapadia, had submitted their visa applications in preparation for the event.

Despite obtaining all necessary NOCs from the Pakistan Sports Board and relevant ministries, the visa requests were rejected.

Chairman Alamgir Sheikh expressed his disappointment over the denial, stating that by refusing the visas, India has deprived Pakistan of potential medals.

On September 18, Pakistani cueist Asjad Iqbal secured a bronze medal at the 2024 Mongolia Snooker World Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

In the semi-final, Iqbal faced Michael Georgiou of Cyprus, who narrowly defeated him by 5-4. The match progressed as follows: 85-0, 80(74)-0, 35-64, 15-62, 24-78, 73-36, 11-74, 76-65(65), and 51-08.

Meanwhile, in July, Pakistan's snooker team secured a place in the semi-finals of the Asian 15-Red Team Snooker Championship by defeating arch-rival India 3-0.

The national cueists Asjad Iqbal and Owais Munir led Pakistan to an easy victory in the quarter-finals.