Asif, Sajjad off to impressive starts

Pakistan cueists begin campaign with wins in 6-Red event.

KARACHI: Pakistan were off to a flyer as the players opened their campaigns successfully at the IBSF 6-Red and Team World Championships in Carlow, Ireland.

In the team event yesterday, Pakistan’s duo of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sajjad powered their team to an emphatic 4-1 win against England, who were being represented by Jeff Cundy and Nick Jennings.

The first game was a tough affair between the two sides, but Pakistan held on. With initial nerves gone, Pakistan went all out with their attack to win with frames of 63-51, 100-0, 70-22, 106-12 and 36-72.

Pakistan are placed in Group F which also includes England (1), India (2) Ireland (6) and Finland. Some countries have more than one team in the event and their classification has been based on numbers, as hosts Ireland have as many as seven pairings in the team world championship.

In the 6-Red Championship, IBSF World Champion and Asian 6-Red winner Asif got off to a terrific start as he won both of his matches on the opening day.

Asif had failed to show form during the Sangsom 6-Red Championship as he stated he could not settle down due to the quick mode of the 6-Red format.

However, he made amends in the world championship as he first thrashed Poland’s Patryk Masłowski 4-1 to win by frames of 55-15, 0-53, 51-0, 65-0 and 35-7.

In his second match, Asif beat Russia’s Maksim Shkarupa in straight frames of 33-22, 45-09, 39-18 and 43-0.

On the other hand, Sajjad too started off his 6-Red Campaign in style, winning 4-0 against Belgium’s Mario Van Herk by  frames of 42-13, 62-8, 31-28 and 50-8.

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

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