Pak duo maintains winning run in Asian Snooker

KARACHI: Pakistan’s duo of Muhammad Bilal and Babar Masih continued their victory march towards glory but their compatriot Haris Tahir crashed in the pre-quarter-finals of the second stage of the ACBS/IBSF Asian Tour 10-Red Snooker Tournament 2018 being staged in Jinan, China.

The four-day event, being held under the auspices of the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS) with the blessings of the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF), is being hosted by the Chinese Billiards & Snooker Association (CBSA).

According to the information made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) here on Monday, Bilal has stormed into the quarter-finals by having knocked over Manan Chandra of India 5-3 in the pre-quarters with the frame scores of 46-19, 30-62, 79-5, 43-13, 1-57, 55-5, 19-46, 56-35.

Bilal, having emerged victorious in the inaugural stage of the event, held last month at the QBSF Snooker Academy in Doha, Qatar, overcame the dangerous Chandra after an eight-frame duel. He fired a classy break of 79 in the third frame while his opponent chalked up breaks of 53 and 46 in a losing cause.

Bilal, who was drawn in the Group A for the preliminary rounds, will now be taking on Ma Chunmao of China in the quarter-finals.Ma Chunmao brought about the demise of Pakistan’s Haris Tahir whipping him 5-1 in the fast paced quarter-finals with the frame scores of 63-11, 39-28, 0-82, 69-0, 62-0, 57-50.

Pakistan’s top ranked cueist Babar Masih also booked his place in the knockout rounds, qualifying from the Group G as overwhelmed Si Jiahui of China 4-2 in his last league fixture with the scores of 54-6, 0-53, 60-1, 68-8, 46-50, 73-20.

The top 24 cueists that include the IBSF and regional snooker players will participate in this tour, together with the Asian champions of 2018. The Pakistan players have been qualified in this ACBS/IBSF Asian Tour of 2018 on the basis of their performances in the ACBS events of 2018.

The total prize money of the event is U$$40,000 with the winner to receive a handsome purse of US$12,000 and the runner-up to get US$6,000.