Bilal goes down fighting in World Snooker

KARACHI: Pakistan’s campaign in the IBSF World Men’s Snooker Championship ended on Monday with the defeat of Mohammad Bilal in the quarter-finals.

Naveen Kumar Perwani and Imran Shahzad had crashed in the pre-quarter-finals of the IBSF World Masters Snooker Championship late Sunday evening.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) here on Monday, Bilal went down fighting against Andrew Pagett of Wales.

Rupesh Shah of India and Brendan Thomas of Ireland blew the whistle on Imran and Naveen, respectively.

Mohammad Asif and Babar Masih had crashed out of the event in the round of 32.

Azhar Khan had been knocked over in the round of 32 of the masters competition.

Pakistan’s chances of clinching the world crown for the third time were kept afloat by the immensely talented Bilal, who prevailed over Alexander Ursenbacher of Switzerland in the pre-quarter-finals, winning by 5-3 with the frame scores of 77-25, 102-6, 81-39, 91-0, 27-80, 100-15, 94-0, 68-31. He fired breaks of 62, 53, 64, 71 and 100.

But Bilal was unable to turn the table on Andrew Pagett of Wales who won the fiercely fought duel 6-5 with the frame scores of 73-1, 0-107, 53-63, 59-64, 56-19, 72-39, 68-19, 43-44, 23-74, 59-33, 75-37.

The 31-year-old Pakistani cueist gave his best against his Welsh rival, three years older than him. He also compiled a magnificent break of 106 in the second frame, but the seasoned Welshman did not show nervousness even when trailing 4-5.

In the other pre-quarter-finals, Declan Brennan (Northern Ireland) defeated Brian Cini (Malta) 5-1, Hamed Zarehdoost (Iran) edged out Amir Sarkhosh (Iran) 5-4, Michael Judge (Ireland) whipped Manan Chandra (India) 5-0, Soheil Vahedi (Iran) knocked out Lukas Kleckers (Germany) 5-4, Pankaj Advani (India) outwitted Keen Hoo Moh (Malaysia) 5-3, Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon (Thailand) overpowered Mohammad Rais Senzahi(Afghanistan) 5-2 and Andrew Pagett (Wales) downed Lucky Vatnani (India) 5-2.

In the masters event, Rupesh knocked down Imran 4-1 with the frame scores of 101-25, 66-27, 69-66, 1-74, 70-18 while Phisit of Thailand outsmarted Naveen with the scores of 58-70, 88-39, 97-11, 40-81, 71-16, 106-22.