IBSF World Snooker Championship: Pakistan's Asif in round of 32 as three others out

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif has qualified for the round of 32 in the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championship being played in Antalya, Turkey.

However, three other Pakistani players — Babar Masih, Zulfiqar Qadir, and Mubashir Raza — were knocked out after losing their respective matches. Even for Asif, it wasn’t an easy sail in Round of 64 match against Russia’s Ivan Kakovskii as he had to keep fighting till the last frame.

Although the Pakistani cueist took an early lead of 2-0, but the 20-year old Russian made strong comeback to win three consecutive frames and gain a lead of 3-2. However, he returned to game in sixth frame to level it 3-3.

In final frame of the match, Asif didn’t let his opponent pot any single ball. He won his match with scores of 87-37, 71-42, 35-64, 32-66, 13-112, 85-22, and 101-0.

Qadir, on the other hand, was knocked out after going down 4-2 against Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka Wai. He was once leading 2-0 but his opponent won four consecutive frames to knock Pakistani player out of race.

He had the opportunity to make a comeback in sixth frame but couldn’t keep the momentum going.

Masih, another seasoned cueist, was also knocked as he was defeated 4-2 by Belgium’s Kevin Hanssens. The Belgian cueist started off with 3-0 lead against his Pakistani counterpart and, while the latter resisted in the fourth and fifth frames to minimise his deficit to 3-2, he was unable to do much in sixth frame.

Pakistan's number 5, Mubashir Raza, could not pose much challenge to Philippines’ Michael Mengorio and went down 4-1.

Now Pakistan’s last hope in the championship, Asif is set to face Israel’s Shachar Ruberg in round of 32 on Thursday. Ruberg got the place in round of 32 after getting walk-over against Iran’s Amir Sarkosh as the latter had decided to boycott the match against Israeli player.