KARACHI: Pakistan’s top junior cueist Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, who the other day lifted the IBSF world under-18 title, went down fighting 3-4 to Chinese opponent in the subsequent world under-21 championship which commenced at Beijing on Wednesday.

Naseem fought back twice from arrears to drew level at two-all and three-all before losing the decisive seventh frame to Mingqi Geng. The latter was home 93-8, 75-3, 1-71, 41-81, 76-26, 48-53, 86-27. The Chinese also compiled three elegant breaks of 93, 66 and 66 in the first, second and fifth frames.

Naseem’s compatriot Haris Tahir also fell prey to another Chinese, Zhang Jiankang. He lost 1-4. Haris had a fabulous start winning the opening frame 121-8 hammering a break of 79. However, he could not maintain the lead and succumbed to pressure losing the next four frames in a row 52-66, 15-102, 18-67, 0-100.

Results: Zhang Jiankang (China) bt Haris Tahir 4-1 (8-121, 66-52, 102-15, 67-18, 100-0); Mingqi Geng (China) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar 4-3 (93-8, 75-3, 1-71, 41-81, 76-26, 48-53, 86-27).

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2017