Curtains for Pakistan in World Championship

All three Pakistani cueists crash out of snooker event.

KARACHI: All three Pakistani cueists competing in the World Amateur Snooker Championship crashed out of the tournament and will return home tomorrow following a mixed show in Damascus.

Imran Shahzad was defeated by Malta’s Alex Borg 5-1 in the pre-quarterfinals stage. The Pakistan number one began the match in a shaky manner, losing the first four frames 61-24, 117-0, 78-33 and 100-14. Imran won his only frame of the match 62-43 as Borg stormed back to seal the win 78-26.

“I’m disappointed because I was targeting the quarter-finals,” Imran told The Express Tribune. “I have played the quarter-finals of the championship in 2007 so this time I was hoping to go beyond that. But Borg didn’t give me a chance to win in the first three frames. Had I won a frame earlier I think I could have turned the tables later.”

Meanwhile, Asia’s number two Mohammad Sajjad failed to qualify for the pre-quarterfinals when he was outplayed by Thailand’s Dechawat Poomajaeng 5-0, losing the match 71-36, 73-72, 78-24, 83-42, 65-44.

Sohail Shahzad put up a close fight against Thailand’s Noppadol Sangnil but lost 5-3. Sohail lost the first three frames 120-0, 121-11 and 102-08 but won the fourth 34-71. He lost the following frame 70-28 but hit back in the sixth and seventh to win 62-35, 62-54. However, Sangnil sealed the win in the eighth frame 70-51.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2010.