KARACHI, Sept 10: Pakistan stormed into the semifinal of eight-nation third Emarat International Snooker Championship when they defeated United Arab Emirates (UAE) A 2-1 at Dubai Snooker Club Monday night thanks to magnificent performances from Muhammad Yousuf and Khurram Agha.

In the semifinals Pakistan will be pitted against Hong Kong while UAE A will be up against Malaysia, according to information received here Tuesday.

Yousuf and Khurram tamed Muhammad Al Joker and Essa Al Syed respectively while Saleh Muhammad went down fighting to Muhammad Al Shahab of UAE A.

Hosts UAE A had been assured of a semifinal slot before arriving to the tables for the game against Pakistan. This was made possible by Singapore who created an upset by defeating favourites Thailand.

Thailand’s defeat at the hands of Singapore also took pressure off the Pakistanis who could have still qualified to the semifinals if they lost 1-2 to UAE A.

But the Pakistanis showed a lot of discipline and played to the best of their abilities. The management had advised them to give their best so that they could emerge Group A champions.

The boys did rise to the occasion and UAE A had to settle for the runner-up slot after tasting their first defeat in the competition.

Pakistan number one Khurram Agha showed his growing stature with a spectacular break of 112 in the fourth and final frame against the prolific Essa Al Syed who had starred in all three previous UAE victories in the tournament. Khurram won the match 86-8, 67-53, 55-30, 125-8.

Veteran Muhammad Yousuf wasted no time in measuring the skills of Muhammad Al Joker, one of the leading UAE cueists. Yousuf was in command of the situation in his impressive win by the scores of 69-52, 72-1, 61-16, 51-60, 77-46. He recorded breaks of 47, 44 and 49 in the second, third and fifth frames.

Saleh Muhammad, who had won all his previous three matches, was beaten by Muhammad Al Shahab after a seven-frame duel. Shahab recorded a break of 102 in the fourth frame as he won the match 11-71, 45-54, 60-12, 102-0, 77-45, 37-64, 73-52.

There was not much interest in the last two Group B matches as Hong Kong and Malaysia had already made it to the semifinals.

Malaysia, who emerged Group B champion, had no problems in whipping UAE C while India, out of the competition, ended their campaign with a 3-0 win over UAE B.

Following were the results on the last day of the league matches:

Pakistan bt UAE A 2-1 Khurram Agha bt Essa Al Syed 4-0, Muhammad Yousuf bt Muhammad Al Jokar, Saleh Muhammad lost to Muhammad Shahab 3-4. India bt UAE B 3-0. Yasin Merchant bt Marwan Al Haji 4-1, Pankaj Advani bt Khalfan Buamim 4-0, Rifat Habib bt Rashid Al Mazroui 4-0. Malaysia bt UAE 3-0. Sam Chong bt Muhammad Jassim Al Rais 4-1, Ng Ann Seng bt Ali Bafroosha 4-0, Ooi Fook Yuen bt Muhammad Bel Gaizi 4-0. Singapore bt Thailand 2-1. Keith Boon Aun bt Somporn Kunthawang 4-0, Lim Chun Kiat bt Nithiwat Kajanasri 4-2, Ang Boon Chin lost to Noppadon Noppachorn Ang Boon Chin 0-4.—APP