Asif, Naseem make exit at knockout phase

KARACHI: The Pakistan duo of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Naseem Akhtar crashed at the first hurdle of the knockout phase of the IBSF World Snooker Championships 2017 being staged in Doha, Qatar.
According to the information made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) on Friday, Asif and Naseem have been eliminated while Asjad Iqbal and Mubashir Raza have moved into the round of 32 of the Men’s Championship.
Moh Keen Hoo of Malaysia stunned Asif, the 2012 champion, 4-1 in the round of 64 with the frame scores being 72-16, 81-26, 70-33, 1-87, 65-17 while Lee Chun Wai of Hong Kong) whipped the debutant Naseem in straight frames with the scores of 96-31, 77-9, 73-15, 77-25. The early exit of Asif, who was the top seed in Group E, has seriously hurt Pakistan’s chances of regaining the world crown but Asjad and Mubashir kept the hopes alive by overcoming their respective rivals in the round of 64.
Asjad, acclaimed as one of the most accomplished cueists of the country, overpowered Yazan Alhadad of Syria 4-2 with the scores of 72-62, 72-6, 74-13, 63-72, 52-76, 72-16 while Mubahsir, another debutant, destroyed Vladyslav Vyshnevskyy of Ukraine 4-1 with the scores of 75-17, 44-57, 84-09, 72-0, 53-42, having fired a break of 71 in the penultimate frame.
The round of 32 matches of the Men’s Championship, to be best of 9-frame encounters, will be held on Saturday (today) in which Asjad will be taking on Rhydian Richards of Wales and Mubahsir will lock horns with the dangerous Moh Keen Hoo of Malaysia.
The knockout phase of the Masters Championship will be getting underway today with the round of 30 in which all three participating Pakistani cueists will be in action.
Mohammad Yousuf, a former champion, who remained undefeated in the league matches, will confront Munier Cassim of South Africa while Imran Shahzad will face Phaithoon Phonbun of Thailand and Khurram Hussain Agha will be up against David Judd of New Zealand.