KARACHI: Following the footsteps of senior cueist Mohammad Asif, former Pakistan No 1 Babar Masih made his way into the knockout round after registering third straight victory in the IBSF World Snooker Championships in Turkish city of Antalya on Thursday evening.

According to information made available here, Babar sent USA’s Ajeya Prabhakar packing 4-0 the scores being 135-7, 69-16, 78-36, 64-50. The highlight of the triumph was a splendid century break of 103 in the first frame.

Despite taking lead twice his compatriot Zulfiqar A. Qadir suffered second straight defeat when he went down 3-4 to Thai cueist Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon. The Thai was home 20-77, 39-86, 111-1, 65-15, 36-60, 69-56, 73-60.

Earlier, Zulfiqar had lost to Russian player in same fashion in the fully stretched battle.

Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, the mat­ches of Asif, Mubashir and Zulfiqar were in progress.

Thursday’s remaining results: Thanawat TirapongPaiboon (Thailand) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir 4-3 (20-77, 39-86, 111-1, 65-15, 36-60, 69-56, 73-60), Babar Masih bt Ajeya Prabhakar (USA) 4-0 (135-7, 69-16, 78-36, 64-50).

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2019