KARACHI: Pakistan’s Mohammad Sajjad stayed in contention for a place in the knockout round after inflicting an emphatic 4-1 defeat on Sri Lanka’s Mohammad Mubeen Mansoor to register third straight victory at the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) world amateur championship in Bangalore on Friday evening.

According to the results reaching here, Sajjad, a former national champion, hammered two brilliant breaks of 74 and 60 in the third and fifth frames while posting a 72-52, 71-46, 78-3, 73-80, 92-21 victory over his opponent.

It is pertinent to mention that Sajjad has conceded just one frame in his three outings so far.

Fresh from his 4-3 triumph over Egyptian Hatem Yaseen in the morning, Hamza Akbar won his second match in the evening by getting the better of Russian Ivan Kakovsky 4-2 (29-74, 29-65, 60-12, 61-12, 55-47, 72-0). The triumph also includes a half-century break of 56 in the last frame.

National champion Mohammad Asif suffered his first defeat in three games when he went down 2-4 to South Africa’s Fakhrie Gierdine. The latter was home 67-46, 91-23, 35-104, 44-64, 70-63, 52-41.

Results:

Mohammad Sajjad (Pakistan) bt Mohammad Mubeen Mansoor (Sri Lanka) 4-1 (72-52, 71-46, 78-3, 73-80, 92-21); Hamza Akbar (Pakistan) bt Ivan Kakovsky (Russia) 4-2 (29-74, 29-65, 60-12, 61-12, 55-47, 72-0); Fakhrie Gierdine (South Africa) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Pakistan) 4-2 (67-46, 91-23, 35-104, 44-64, 70-63, 52-41).

Published in Dawn, November 23th , 2014