Pakistan snooker teams win opening day matches

KARACHI: Both the Pakistani outfits remained undefeated on the opening day of the IBSF Team Snooker Championship 2016 which cued off at Sharm-e-Sheikh in Egypt on Thursday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) on Friday, Pakistan-1 comprising Babar Masih and Asjad Iqbal won the opening game, while Pakistan-2 featuring Mohammad Bilal and Sohail Shahzad emerged triumphant in both their matches on the first day of the team event.

The participating 65 teams have been divided in 13 groups for the preliminary rounds at the end of which the top three teams will be proceeding to the knockout phase.

The team event is being held concurrently with the IBSF 6-Reds Snooker Championship in which 145 cueists from 26 countries are taking part.

Pakistan-2 began their campaign in the Group B with a crushing 5-0 victory Egypt-15, composed of Mohamed Abdul Kader and Mohamed Zamzouk, with the frame scores of 79-12, 78-1, 66-15, 72-17, 97-0.

Bilal and Sohail extended their brilliant form by whipping Egypt-2, having Mostafa Dorgham and Tymour Hussein, 4-1 with the frame scores of 68-26, 81-39, 74-24, 85-43, 55-66.

Their opponents in the remaining league matches will be Qatar-1 and India-8.

The Pakistan-1 pair of Babar and Asjad got off to a sensational start in the Group C as they thrashed the Egypt-16 duo of Khaled El Shaikh and Hossam Gawish, in straight frames of 64-25, 63-12, 63-32, 63-14, 70-26. They will now be taking on Egypt-3, Saudi Arabia-1 and Jordan in their remaining matches.