Winning thrice in a row, Pakistani cueists enter IBSF Championship's knock-out stage

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top cueists, Mohammad Asif and Babar Masih, on Thursday confirmed their place in the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championship's knock-out stage as they won their third consecutive game.

Ace cueist Mohammad Asif looked came back after losing first frame against Ross Symes to win the group C’s match 4-1. He won the match with score of 22-74, 70-10, 73-25, 68-33, and 55-17 to complete his third consecutive win in the tournament. 

Pakistan’s Number 1 also played a break of 52 in the tournament.

Babar Masih, on the other hand, also continued with his superb form in the championship, outclassing USA’s Ajeya Prabhakar 4-0 while chalking out a century break in the opening frame.

Masih won the match comfortably with score of 135-7, 69-16, 78-36, and 64-50.

Qadir's unlucky day

However, Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, ranked 2 in Pakistan’s national rankings, had another unlucky day in Antalya, Turkey, as he went down against Thailand’s Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon after leading 2-0.

The Pakistani cueist fought against Tirapongpaiboon 4-3 after taking a lead of 2-0. He won first two frames 77-20 and 86-39 but went down in next two 111-1 and 65-2 as Thai cueist levelled the game 2-all.

Qadir showed good cue control in 5th frame but a miss in 6th frame allowed Tirapongpaiboon to level it once again. In the final frame, he couldn’t spend more time on table and saw his opponent winning the final frame 73-7 while playing a break of 51.