Pak cueists stretch winning streak

KARACHI: The Pakistani cueists extended their unbeaten run in the 33rd ACBS Asian Snooker Championship 2017 as they overpowered their rivals for the second day running in the eight-day continental event being staged in Doha, Qatar.

Mohammad Sajjad, Asjad Iqbal and Mohammad Bilal, who had won their opening day’s matches in contrasting styles, continued their march towards glory on Sunday.

Sajjad, the reigning national champion, having registered a magnificent comeback victory over Ja Jin Ong of Singapore in his first outing, proved too good for Ibrahim Adel of Iraq, smashing him in straight frames to move to the top of the points table in the Group M.

In his remaining league matches he will be taking on Li Yan (China) and Khamis Alobaidi (Qatar).

Bilal, Pakistan’s national champion last year, having earned direct entry in the competition, also made it two in two when he was awarded walkover win against Uzitogogtokh Davaasuren of Mongolia.

Placed in the Group H, he had blanked Khalil Busaif of Bahrain in straight frames on the opening day. His last league match will be against Lee Chun Wai of Hong Kong.

Asjad, in the Group P, outwitted Abdulraouf Saigh of Saudi Arabia 4-2 with the scores of 30-59, 84-08, 54-65, 68-1, 67-13, 102-6, signing off with a break of 56. His opponents in the remaining league matches will be Lv Haotian (China), Husain Mahmood (Bahrain) and Shu Hung Lin (Taipei).

A total of 67 cueists from 23 countries have entered the preliminary rounds which will continue until Tuesday (tomorrow). The knockout phase, starting with the round of 32, will commence on Wednesday.