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KARACHI: Two of Pakistan’s top contenders — Asian No 2 Mohammad Sajjad and Guangzhou Asian Games bronze medalist (team event) Imran Shahzad — were knocked out of the 27th Asian Snooker Championship in Indian city of Indore on Wednesday.
Sajjad, who rose to fame by making it to the final of Asian spectacle last year where he lost to eventual champion Issara Kachaiwang of Thailand 3-7, recovered twice before losing the decisive frame to taste nail-biting 3-4 defeat at the hands of UAE’s Mohammad Al Joaker.
Joaker had a brisk start taking the first two frames. However, the lead was short lived as Sajjad neutralised it. The Pakistani again went into deficit losing the fifth frame only to bounce back and level score three-all. Joaker rounded-off the best of seven match piling an elegant century break of 113 to top group A. Iran’s Mohammad Lababi finished runner up.
Thailand’s Passakorn Suwannawat ended pretensions of Imran Shahzad coasting to 4-2 victory to emerge group F champion. Indian Kamal Chawla finished runner-up.
National champion Shahid Aftab, the only Pakistani who qualified for the knockout stage finishing runner-up in group C, meets Mohammad Al Joaker in pre quarter-final on Thursday at 2pm.
Meanwhile, host India earned a lion’s share of four out of possible 16 slots in the knockout stage. They were followed by Thailand, China and UAE with two places apiece while Iran, Singapore, Syria, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Pakistan have one place each.
Saleh Mohammad, a former world No 2 who represented Afghanistan, also met his fate.
According to results, a total of 10 century breaks were piled up during the league. Results: Imran Shahzad (Pakistan) lost to Passakorn Suwannawat (Thailand) 2-4 (67-21, 35-74, 77-0, 42-55, 48-68, 61-63; Mohammad Sajjad (Pakistan) lost to Mohammad Al Joaker (UAE) 3-4 (25-74, 39-71, 77-31, 78-1, 52-55, 75-8, 16-113).
