Babar tops group in World Snooker

LAHORE: The country’s solid cueist Babar Masih on Tuesday finished as Group K winner to qualify directly for last 32 when he crushed Abdulrahman Saif of the UAE 4-0 in his last group show of the IBSF World Snooker Championship in Doha. 

Babar will now play in the round of 32 on Wednesday (today). Meanwhile, Mohammad Naseem Akhtar and Ahsan Ramzan lost their group matches. However, they both have already qualified for the knockout stage and their fate will be known after completion of all group matches Tuesday night whether they will feature in last 38 or last 32.

Babar showed a lot of determination to topple Abdulrahman Saif of the UAE. He also managed three handsome breaks in his fine third straight win in the group. The frame scores remained 88-0, 67-50, 94-4 and 102-37 in Babar’s favour. Babar managed a break of 88 in the first frame, 93 in the third frame and 91 in the fourth frame.

Meanwhile, in Group F Mohammad Naseem Akhtar went 4-2 down to India’s Shrikrishna Suryanarayanan to finish as group runner-up with two wins from three matches. Shrikrishna took a bright start when he won the first frame 115-16 which was embellished with a break of 58. The Indian then doubled his lead with a 79-20 victory in the second frame. Naseem, also the 2017 Under-18 world champion, reduced the deficit by winning the third frame 74-22 which also carried a fine break of 52.