Asian Snooker Championship: End of the road for Pakistan

Country’s cueists fail to progress past quarter-finals.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s run at the Jubilee Insurance 29th Asian Snooker Championship ended with two of the country’s remaining cueists crashing out of the quarter-finals yesterday.

A day after IBSF world champion Mohammad Asif was knocked in the last-16, compatriots Mohammad Sajjad and Abu Saim followed suit with defeats in their respective quarter-finals.

While Sajjad went down to Iran’s Aamir Sarkosh without much of a fight with a 5-2 defeat, Saim squandered a three-frame lead to lose to China’s Zhao Xin Tong 5-3.

Sajjad, who had been in sublime form throughout the event, was tipped as one of the favourites to clinch the title along with Asif. With Asif’s elimination, the country’s hopes rested on the former Asian number two.

However, the cueist failed in his bid to lift the trophy at home, going down to Sarkosh with frame scores of 58-68, 66-38, 59-23, 50-31, 82(81)-0, 36-76 and 74-38.

“My form had been excellent and I was aiming to become the Asian champion,” Sajjad told The Express Tribune. “But today I didn’t get a chance and credit goes to my opponent.”

Sajjad added that Pakistan’s players missed an ideal chance to be crowned the Asian champions — adding to the trophy cabinet that already boasts of the IBSF world champion title.

The other Pakistan cueist, Saim, led 3-0 before Zhao hit back. The Chinese won with frame scores of 32-87, 37-86, 27-64, 57-03, 107 (102)-31, 129 (122)-06, 70-12 and 65-27.

In the other quarter-finals, Syria’s Omer al-Kojah defeated Hong Kong’s Lee Chun Wai 5-1, while Afghanistan’s Saleh Mohammad beat Iran’s Mohammad Lababi 5-1.

Saleh, a former Pakistani player, will face Zhao, while Sarkosh will take on Al Kojah in the semi-finals today.

PBSA chief disappointed

Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Sheikh said that he was disappointed that eight of the country’s cueists failed to take the home advantage.

“It is really disappointing that none of our players went through to the semi-final,” said Sheikh.

“We were expecting Asif and Sajjad to vie for the title but it didn’t happen.  They were our main hopes and once they lost it was a gigantic ask to expect Abu Saim to move into the last-four.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2013.