Asif fell against Australia’s Ridley 4-1 in the knockout stage of the IBSF 6-Red World Championship, and will now look to bounce back in the team event. PHOTO: FILE/EXPRESS
High flying Pakistan cueists, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sajjad received a jolt when they crashed out of the IBSF 6-Red World Championship last-16 phase yesterday in Carlow, Ireland.
World champion and Asian 6-Red winner Asif was stunned by Australia’s Adrian Ridley 4-1.
The match started with a closely contested frame which was won by Asif with a margin of just a single point, but that alerted Ridley, who reciprocated the attack with a safe strategy.
Ridley’s safe playing tactics helped him win the next three frames, and as he grew in confidence, he won the fifth frame in style to finish with a scoreline of 26-27, 38-17, 35-18, 34-24 and 70-0.
Asif had made it to the pre-quarter finals with an unbeaten record, having earlier thrashed Ireland’s Rodney Goggins in straight sets which raised hopes that the 6-Red World Championship may become another feather in Asif’s cap.
He had shown no mercy as he routed his Irish opponent by frames of 37-04, 39-5, 42-6 and 38-30.
Sajjad exits in similar fashion
Sajjad too went down in similar fashion as he was defeated 4-1 by Wales’ Ian Sargeant.
He lost in almost the same manner as Sajjad, clinching victory in the first frame. However, his opponent did not give him any further opportunities to build on the lead as Sargeant attacked and went on to win with a scoreline of 9-45, 36-27, 47-12, 68-4 and 38-20.
In his last-32 match, Sajjad had won 4-2 against Poland’s Kacper Filipiak by frames of 37-4, 39-1, 15-42, 67-8, 22-34 and 51-14.
Meanwhile, former world champion Mohammad Yousuf had already cautioned that both Asif and Sajjad were having easy runs so far because they had not played against the top players as yet.
“Both Asif and Sajjad were playing really well, but they lost out during the knockout phase which is always tricky,” Yousuf told The Express Tribune.
“The pressure of knockout matches is altogether different and I now hope that Pakistan go onto win the IBSF Team World Championship.”
Pakistan will be playing against Ireland (2) in the semi-final of the team event.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2013.
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