Pakistan’s quartet shine in snooker

KARACHI: Pakistan’s quartet of Mohammad Sajjad, Mohammad Asif, Shahram Changezi and Abdul Sattar remained unbeaten in the first two days of league matches in the IBSF World Men’s Snooker Championship 2015 in the Egyptian city of Hurgada.
According to the results released by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) on Thursday, all the Pakistani cueists emerged triumphant on the second day.
Mohammad Sajjad, placed in Group N, thrashed Alaa Elsaed of Egypt in straight frames with the scores of 73-47, 86-15, 104-24, 70-34, having chalked up breaks of 53, 57 and 68 in the first three frames.
He had meted out similar treatment to Ahmed Haitham of Yemen, firing breaks of 69, 58 and 54 in successive frames on the opening day.
Mohammad Asif, placed in Group V, came from behind to edge out India’s Faisal Khan in a seven-frame thriller with the scores of 23-76, 48-65, 60-35, 0-67, 104-1, 59-49, 97-10.
Asif, the 2012 world champion, had overpowered Omar Ali of Iraq by 4-1 in his opening game.
Shahram Changezi maintained his unbeaten run in Group T by defeating Mohamed Hemdan of Egypt by 4-1 with the frame scores of 73-0, 69-65, 45-67, 106-16, 70-56. In his opening game, he had outfoxed Thadeu Giannattasio Nobers of Brazil by 4-1.
Debutant Abdul Sattar also began his campaign on a winning note in the Group J, as he routed Mostafa Dargham of Egypt in straight frames with the scores of 1-0, 79-26, 69-63, 79-8.
He was the beneficiary of getting a frame as his rival was late. He finished off in style, closing with a break of 65.