“We had high expectations from Majid and [Hamza] Akbar, but they have underperformed,” Sheikh told The Express Tribune. PHOTO: FILE EXPRESS
Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Sheikh revealed his discontent as none of the Pakistani cueists were able to make past the last-16 stage of the IBSF World U21 Championship in Al Fujairah, UAE.
Sheikh’s comments succeeded Pakistan’s lone survivor Mohammad Majid Ali’s exit from the championship late Friday, after he was defeated 5-1 by Ireland’s Josh Boileau in their last-16 match.
“We had high expectations from Majid and [Hamza] Akbar, but they have underperformed,” Sheikh told The Express Tribune.
“Better results were expected from them after the amount of exposure they have been given at the international level.
“They have been playing international tournaments for the last three to four years, but the graph isn’t improving. They are losing in important knockout matches, where it matters most.
“However, I am very happy with performances of Haris [Nadeem] and [Mohammad] Fahim because it was their first international tournament.”
Sheikh said that he will have words with both Majid and Akbar once they return, and that the PBSA has already called them for a meeting in Karachi. He insisted that it is easy to win group matches in any tournament, but a player must prove his worth in tough situations.
Majid clueless against Boileu
Majid did not get much time to prepare after his last-32 match as he was pushed straight into action for his pre quarter-final which took its toll on the youngster.
Boileu played attackingly from the word go, putting pressure on Majid as he raced to a 3-0 lead. However, the Faisalabad based youngster tried to recover and won the fourth frame to make it 3-1.
Boileau then upped the ante to win the next two frames to clinch victory with a scoreline of 65-27, 110-08, 78-36, 05-64, 76-17 and 94-01.
Majid earlier beat compatriot Fahim in the last-32 round, while Akbar was unlucky to exit the tournament in his last-32 contest, beaten 5-4 by Scotland’s Lee Mein in a very closely contested duel. Nadeem had lost in his last-64 match against Australia’s Kurt Brown.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2014.
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