Sajjad grabs consolation win in 6-Red World Snooker

KARACHI: Pakistan’s ace cueist Mohammad Sajjad registered a consolation victory in his third and last league outing of the high-profile 6-Red World Snooker Championship 2017 being staged in Bangkok, Thailand.

According to the details shared by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) here on Wednesday, Sajjad, who was picked for the global event by virtue of winning 6-Red Asian Snooker Championship 2017 which was held at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, earlier this year, could not force his way into the knockout phase of the event.

Sajjad, having succumbed to defeats at the hands of fancied rivals in his first couple of matches, made some amends by routing Passakorn Suwannawat of Thailand 5-1 with the frame scores of 9-37, 51-36, 46-17, 59-0, 45-0, 61-0 on the third and final day of first-round matches.

Ryan Day of Wales had smashed Sajjad in straight frames on the opening day of the competition and the Pakistani cueist could only do marginally better against Anthony Mc Gill of Scotland the following day.

His solitary win in three outings was not enough to take him to the next round but it certainly helped him earn greater share in prize money by virtue of having finished third in the group after the first round.

Sajjad will now be entitled to a cash award of 75,000 baht while Passakorn Suwannawat of Thailand will receive 50,000 baht for having ended at the fourth position in the group.

The winner of the event will collect 3,500,000 baht and the runner-up will be receive 1,300,000 baht.A total 32 cueists, divided equally in eight groups, are battling for top positions in the 6-Red World Snooker Championship which includes 16 top-ranked entrants from Main Tour. The top two cueists from each group have advanced to the knockout rounds.

With the first-round matches having concluded on Wednesday, the knockout phase will commence with the pre-quarter-finals on Thursday (today). The quarter-finals will also take place later today while both the semi-finals, to be best-of-13-frame contests, will be held on Friday (tomorrow) and the best-of-15-frame final will be staged on Saturday.