Fruitful day for Pakistan cueists in IBSF world event

Defending champion Asif wins 4-1 as Sajjad hits 110-point break.

KARACHI: Defending champion Mohammad Asif and three other Pakistan cueists got off to winning starts on Thursday in the IBSF World Snooker Championship being played in Daugavpils, Latvia.

Asif oozed confidence as he thrashed America’s Aly Elsayed 4-1, winning the frames in his favour by big margins.

With an aim of defending his title, Asif came out all guns blazing and maintained a huge gap with his opponent right from the word go as he won with scores of 107-20, 101-08, 118-14, 20-59 and 122-0(71).

Mohammad Sajjad – Asif’s partner in the Pakistan team that won the IBSF World Team title recently – also had a brilliant day at the event, winning 4-0 against Lithuania’s Andrej Maksimov.

An explosive player and often dubbed as a more dangerous opponent than Asif by former world champion Mohammad Yousuf, Sajjad went on to score a century in the demolition process, winning his game by 104-21, 77-40, 118-01(110) and 84-19.

Imran, Shahid win delayed matches

Imran Shehzad and Shahid Aftab, who were without their cues a day before the tournament began, won their delayed matches in the evening.

The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) had requested the organisers to delay the two players’ matches so that they could play with their own cues.

Shehzad’s Singaporean opponent Benny Loh gave him a tough time in the second and third sets. However, the Pakistani won the game 4-0 as he registered scores of 94-31, 64-55, 63-55 and 72-27.

Meanwhile, Aftab belied the perception of being the weakest link among the four as he defeated New Zealand’s Jason Todd 4-2.

Aftab took an early 2-0 lead in the game, but Todd hit back to draw parity. However, Aftab eventually triumphed by scores of 52-64, 68-42, 37-59, 65-59, 59-10 and 73-01.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2013.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.