Former IBSF World Team champs Asif, Sajjad crash out

Three teams from Pakistan manage to reach last eight

KARACHI: Former IBSF World Team champions Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sajjad, who were the strongest contenders to win the latest edition of the event playing under the name Pakistan (1), were stunned 4-1 in the last-16 by the duo of Asjad Iqbal and Shahid Aftab — Pakistan (3).

The match burst into life immediately as Asif and Asjad came up against each other in the singles frame, which Asjad won by a single point.

Sajjad was trying to save face as Asif failed to perform up to the mark in the group stages, but his nerves were shaken by the end as he lost the singles frame against Shahid.

However, the pair managed to make a short-lived comeback when they won the doubles frame to make it 2-1, but were then beaten comprehensively in the fourth and fifth singles frames as Pakistan (3) won by a scoreline of 70-69, 61-47, 00-87, 77-00 and 80-00.

Sajjad said that the first frame did the trick for the opponents and they could not recover after the initial blow. “Asif was leading by 54 points in the first frame but then we lost it by a single point which really hit us mentally,” Sajjad told The Express Tribune. “We were looking to win the title but were beaten by a better team on the day. Though we’ve lost out, we still think that there are two teams who can vie for the world team title for Pakistan. The pairs of Asjad and Shahid, and Shahram Changezi and Babar Masih have the capability to go all the way.”

Asjad and Shahid will now take on India (1) in the quarter-finals.

Pankaj Advani and Varun Madan claimed an easy 4-2 win against Chau Hon Man and Lin Tang Ho of Hong Kong (2), triumphing with scores of 97-00, 61-31, 76-30, 14-109, 04-109 and 120-01.

Sajjad stated that the match with India would be like a final. “The match between Pakistan (3) and India (1) will be like a final because the winner of that match will be the favourites for the title. I just hope that Asjad and Shahid come out on top tomorrow. On my personal performance, I’m very unhappy with myself because I lost in the last-32 in the individual event and now we’ve been knocked out in the last-16 of the team event,” he added.

Meanwhile, Shahram and Babar of Pakistan (2) beat Pakistan (4) — Imran Shehzad and Sohail Shehzad — 4-1 to progress into the quarter-finals and will face Hong Kong (3) next.

Iran (1), comprising Soheil Vahedi and Amir Sarkhosh, won 4-2 against Bahrain’s Sadiq Alghuriaif and Mohammad Omer, while Pakistan (9) — Mohammad Faheem and Abdul Raheem — thrashed Mohammad Majid and Hunain Amir of Pakistan (5) 4-1.