KARACHI: Pakistan’s top cueists, Mohammad Asif and Babar Masih, on Wednesday masterfully continued their winning streak in the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championship in Turkish city of Antalya.
Asif, Pakistan's number one, came back to score three breaks of fifty and over after losing first frame against New Zealand’s Matthew Scarborough in Group C match. The cueist went down 01-80 in the first frame but won four consecutive frames with score of 81-1, 79-11, 71-14 and 79-7 to complete 4-1 win.
Asif, a former world champion, played breaks of 57, 67 and 57 in 2nd, 3rd, and 5th frame, respectively.
Read more: Pakistan opens with big wins in IBSF World Snooker Championship
In group A encounter, Pakistan’s second-ranked player, Zulfiqar Qadir, lost to Russia’s Ivan Kakovskii on tie ball in final frame.
Both cueists looked evenly poised against each other in the game as Qadir's lead in first frame was levelled by the Russian player in second frame. He came back to win the third frame to take the lead once again however a break of 84 in fourth frame helped Ivan to level it 2-2.
The Russian cueist took the 3-2 lead by winning 5th frame but Qadir came back strongly and played a clearance century break of 101 in 6th frame to make it 3-3 and take the game to the final frame.
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The final frame saw a nail-biting contest. Kakovskii was leading 43-56 with pink and black remaining on table when Qadir got the opportunity to pot both the colours. He took the maximum advantage by potting both the colours to make it tied at 56-65.
On tie-breaker black-ball, Asif mistimed one of his shots, which gave his Russian opponent an opportunity to pot the ball on top pocket with a thin cut to win the match 4-3.
In final session of evening, Pakistan’s Masih out classed Czech Republic’s Osip Zusmanovic 4-1. His frame score was 84-1, 46-58, 71-30, 96-13, and 80-4.