Snooker: Majid through to junior knockouts

Pakistani beats Indian opponent to progress in snooker championship.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Mohammad Majid qualified for the last-32 of the IBSF World U21 Snooker Championship after a 4-2 win over India’s Lalrina Rebtheli in Wuxi, China yesterday.

This was Majid’s fifth win in six matches as he continued to grow in confidence while also hitting his highest break of the championship (86) as well as his highest frame score (133), sealing the win with a 133-05, 108-53, 29-62, 65-49, 39-83 and 68-65.

According to Majid, the training handed out by former world amateur champion Mohammad Yousuf ahead of the championship was paying dividends.

“I was a bit hesitant in the earlier matches, playing it safe to make sure that I win matches and seal progress,” Majid told The Express Tribune. “But now I’ve grown in stature and have started applying the technique and pointers that I learnt from Yousuf. He encouraged me to go for big breaks without fear and it has given me a lot of confidence after I did that.”

Amir’s fate in the balance

Meanwhile, national junior champion Hunain Amir fell to another loss, a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Iran’s Alireza Khodaparast (41-59, 57-44, 66-8, 72-16 and 66-40).

Amir, languishing at fourth in his group with two wins from five matches, will take on Scotland’s Rhys Clark today with only a win ensuring his progress into the knockout round. The 16-year-old rued his inability to hit big breaks.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2012.