Pakistan crumble in IBSF Team Snooker

KARACHI: Pakistan crashed in the quarter-finals of the IBSF Team Snooker Championship 2016 but the duo of Asjad Iqbal and Sohail Shahzad stayed afloat in the IBSF 6-Reds Snooker Championship 2016 being held concurrently at Sharm-e-Sheikh in Egypt.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) on Friday, Pakistan-1, comprising of Babar Masih and Asjad Iqbal, were knocked over by Wales in the quarter-finals after they had blown the whistle on Hong Kong-3 in the pre-quarters.

Pakistan-1, having emerged the Group C champions by winning all their four league matches convincingly, had also started off brilliantly in the knockout phase by Egypt-4 in straight frames.

They continued their splendid form in the pre-quarter-finals by also whacking Hong Kong-3 in straight frames with the scores of 64-9, 57-49, 81-22.

The duo of Mohammad Bilal and Babar Masih, having become one of the favourites to lift the title, ran out of steam in the quarter-finals as Wales overpowered them 4-2 with the scores of 7-89, 35-75, 73-30, 66-17, 58-17, 75-17.

The rampaging Pakistanis held the advantage by pocketing the first couple of frames in the best of seven encounter but they couldn’t withstand the counter-attack from the Welshmen who won the next four frames on a trot to seal the fate of the match.

With the unexpected exit in the team event, Pakistan’s hopes of bringing home medals rested on the shoulders of Asjad Iqbal and Sohail Shahzad who were preparing to take on their respective rivals in the pre-quarter-finals of the 6-Reds competition later in the evening.

Asjad Iqbal, having forced his way into the last 16 by outwitting Anuj Uppal of India 4-2 in the round of 32, will now be pitted against the dangerous Darren Morgan of Wales, who had eliminated Pakistan’s Babar Masih in the round of 64.

Sohail Shahzad, having made it to the pre-quarter-finals by edging out Simon Dent of England 4-3, will now be locking horns with Sourav Kothari of India.