KARACHI: Top players of Pakistan snooker started falling the moment they reached the knockout round in the ongoing 34th Asian Snooker Championship at Tabriz, Iran, on Thursday.

According to results made available here, country’s top cueist Mohammad Asif, despite piling up two splendid century breaks of 102 and 135 in the second and sixth frames respectively, went down to Iraq’s low-profile Ali Hussain 3-4 to make unceremonious exit in the last-24 round.

It is pertinent to mention that the former world amateur snooker champion could not reach quarters directly on completion of the league due to astonishing defeat at the hands of Afghanis­tan’s former Asian champion Saleh Mohammad.

Though Asif started on a positive note against Hussain by taking 2-0 lead, he squandered the advantage to trail 2-3. He recovered by building a break of 135 in the sixth frame to drew level but lost the decisive frame.

Hussain won the best of seven encounter 45-68, 8-102, 73-30, 73-29, 83-6, 0-135, 73-49 to advance into the last-16 round.

Former Asian junior No 2 Mohammad Majid Ali become the second Pakistan cueist to fall while losing 1-4 to Myanmar’s Ko Htit. The latter won 72-17, 103-10, 0-100, 59-48, 83-4.

Meanwhile, former natio­nal champion Mohammad Bilal and Babar Masih crui­sed into the last eight registering contrasting victories over their opponents in the pre quarters.

Bilal survived a scare while getting the better of Ko Htet in the fully stretched battle 31-68, 63-51, 68-7, 39-64, 69-72, 73-20, 54-41 while Babar triumph 4-1 over Iran’s Siyavosh Mozayani the scores being 74-19, 69-44, 57-59, 136-0, 71-15.

Results:

Pre quarter-finals:

Babar Masih bt Siyavosh Mozayani (Iran) 4-1 (74-19, 69-44, 57-59, 136-0, 71-15); Mohammad Bilal bt Ko Htet (Maynmar) 4-3 (31-68, 63-51, 68-7, 39-64, 69-72, 73-20, 54-41).

Last-24 round:

Ko Htet (Maynmar) bt Mohammad Majid Ali 4-1 (72-17, 103-10, 0-100, 59-48, 83-4); Ali Hussein (Iraq) bt Mohammad Asif 4-3 (45-68, 8-102, 73-30, 73-29, 83-6, 0-135, 73-49).

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2018