Akbar joins Toba in knockout round

Young cueist registers 4-0 win in Asian Snooker Championship.

KARACHI: Youngster Hamza Akbar followed compatriot Mohammad Asif Toba into the last 32 of the Asian Snooker Championship by beating Iraq’s Muneebal Juboori 4-0 in their group match in Al Fujairah, UAE.

Akbar was aggressive from the start, scoring freely against his opponent. He won with game scores of 84-35, 81-14, 94-33 and 68-07.

After losing the opener to Iran’s Soheil Vahedi, Akbar’s tally is now 2-1 from three group matches. The Tuesday win was crucial as it prevented him from crashing out of the tournament.

Akbar has the honour of being the youngest national snooker champion in history and he has done well in the few international tournaments he has played so far.

The youngster has pledged to emerge from the shadow of senior players Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Sajjad.

Meanwhile, Asjad Iqbal lost his last group match in a seven-frame battle against Malaysia’s Keen Hoo Moh, but still made it to the next round courtesy his previous wins.

Moh was lethal, piling on a strong lead of 3-0. However, Iqbal made a remarkable recovery as he levelled the match 3-3 to move into the decider. But Moh triumphed with a scoreline of 58-34, 64-35, 77-65, 26-102(102), 20-95, 25-84 and 113-1.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2014.

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