KARACHI: Former world amateur snooker champion Mohammad Asif has attributed his semi-final defeat in the world 6-Reds event to ‘bad luck’.

“It was Yan Bingtao’s day as he came back from the jaws of defeat to win the battle and qualify for the final,” Asif told Dawn after his match on Tuesday.

Trailing 1-4 in the best of nine frames semi-final, Yan fought back into the game by picking up the next four in a row to settle the contest.

“I got couple of chances to fight back but the placement of ball was not favourable,” he added. He compiled three breaks of 34, 71 and 46 in the first three frames.

He gave full marks to the Chinese opponent. Yan also scored three breaks of 33, 32 and 53in the fourth, sixth and eighth frames.

Referring to Asjad Iqbal’s loss in the other semi-final, Asif said the former played well but lost due to lack of international experience.

He added that Pakistan still has a chance for glory in the two teams events.

Last year, Asif had lost in the 6-Reds pre quarters while compatriot Mohammad Sajjad exited at the quarter-finals stage.

About Sajjad’s elimination in the last-32 this time around, Asif said 6-Reds is the short version of the game and “a player gets only one chance to make or break”.

Like Asif, Asjad also went down courageously 4-5 to the defending champion Pankaj Advani of India in the other semi-final.

Asjad made a brisk start and surged to a 2-0 lead, scoring breaks of 34 and 56 in the first and second frames.

Pankaj went 3-2 up but Asjad drew level. The Indian took the lead again but Asjad hit back to draw level before succumbing to a 4-5 defeat.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2015

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