Bilal falls in Asian Snooker C’ship semis

KARACHI: Pakistan’s enterprising cueist Mohammad Bilal, after having fared brilliantly in the earlier knockout games, ran out of steam against Pankaj Advani of India in the semi-finals of the 33rd ACBS Asian Snooker Championship 2017 in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday.

The 31-year-old Bilal, a former national champion, had done exceptionally well to storm into the last-four but he succumbed to the top-seeded Indian who simply refused to allow any space to him.

Bilal was blanked in straight frames by Advani, also 31, who will now be taking on second seed Lv Haotian of China, 19, in the final on Friday (today).

Having edged out compatriot Asjad Iqbal in the pre-quarter-finals, Bilal had kept Pakistan’s hopes of regaining the Asian crown alive by whacking Mohammad Reza Hassan of Malaysia in the quarter-finals.

Pakistan’s premier cueist, the reigning national champion and a former world number two, Mohammad Sajjad, had crashed in the round of 32 but the all-Pakistan pre-quarter-final between Bilal and Asjad had assured a quarter-final slot for Pakistan.

The knockout best of seven-frame encounter between the two most highly-skilled Pakistani cueists turned out to be a cracker in which fortunes fluctuated dramatically before Bilal elbowed out Asjad 4-3 with the scores of 91-15, 101-26, 0-80, 3-76, 12-69, 87-20, 56-34.

Bilal got off to a flying start winning the opening frame with a fluent break of 55. He doubled his lead with a majestic break of even hundred in the second frame. Asjad then showed his pedigree by notching up breaks of 80 and 76 in the next couple of frames to draw level.

Asjad moved into the lead for the first time by pocketing the fifth frame but Bilal came in his elements to win the next couple of frames to send his compatriot packing.

Bilal didn’t face such a stiff competition in the quarter-finals as he whipped Raza Hassan of Malaysia 5-2 with the frame scores of 79-39, 80-0, 75-40, 2-56, 81-26, 0-113, 68-52.

High on confidence, Bilal ran into a 3-0 lead rather quickly. He also fired a break of 60 in the second frame. His opponent snatched the fourth frame but the Pakistani cueist registered another break of 50 in the fifth frame to move 4-1 up. The Malaysian delayed the inevitable by taking the sixth frame as Bilal was able to wrap up the issue in the very next frame.