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KARACHI: National champion Shahid Aftab became the first Pakistani cueist to advance into the pre-quarter-finals of the ongoing 27th Asian snooker championship in the Indian city of Indore on Tuesday.
Shahid, 29, completed his group engagements while routing Irans Hossein Vafaei Ayouri 4-2 to finish runner-up in group ‘C’ behind Afghanistans Mohammad Rais Senzahi. The latter had a clean slate winning all the four games while the former returned victorious in three out of four encounters. Shahid was home 36-58, 72-43, 75-41, 47-64, 68-45, 65-41 against the Iranian opponent.
Earlier, Shahid sent seasoned Indian Manan Chandra packing 4-2 on Monday.
The scores were 85-15, 67-34, 58-37, 36-64, 34-57, 57-38.
Despite scoring a fluent break of 85 in the opening frame, Imran Shahzad, losing finalist of this year’s national’s, went down 1-4 to Indian Kamal Chawla on Tuesday to taste his first defeat.
Imran, who took a winning start taking the first frame 111-0, could not maintain pace and lost the following frames 23-96, 26-58, 32-72, 34-69.
He now meets Thailands Passakorn Suwannawat in the last group fixture on Wednesday, the last day of league matches.
With two wins under his belt, Asian No 2 Mohammad Sajjad also went down fighting 3-4 to Irans Mohammad Lababi the other day. He meets UAE’s Mohammad Al Joaker on Wednesday. Results: Shahid Aftab (Pakistan) bt Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Iran) 4-2 (36-58, 72-43, 75-41, 47-64, 68-45, 65-41); Imran Shahzad (Pakistan) lost to Kamal Chawla (India) 1-4 (111-0, 23-96, 26-58, 32-72, 34-69). Monday’s results: Shahid Aftab (Pakistan) bt Manan Chandra (India) 4-2 (85-15, 67-34, 58-37, 36-64, 34-57, 57-38); Mohammad Sajjad (Pakistan) bt Ali Mohsen Khamis (Qatar) 4-2 (24-67, 50-59, 67-17, 94-31, 86-4, 73-25); Imran Shahzad (Pakistan) bt Mubarak Al Owais (Kuwait) 4-1 (56-23, 74-8, 68-16, 46-59, 53-35); Mohammad Sajjad (Pakistan) lost to Mohammad Lababi (Iran) 3-4 (42-16, 65-41, 47-60, 42-57, 39-54, 62-33, 1-52).
