KARACHI: The pair of Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sajjad, who did Pakistan proud at Carlow, Ireland, last year, took a step closer to retain the title when they whipped India-One 4-1 to sneak into International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) snooker team event semi-final in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Saturday.

The victorious pair proved too good for the Indian duo of Pankaj Advani and Birjesh Bamani winning the battle 31-71, 80-41, 62-17, 84-11, 51-14.

It is pertinent to mention that Advani is a former world amateur snooker champion having beaten the then Pakistan’s Saleh Mohammad in the final played at Jiangmin, China. The latter has migrated to Afghanistan.

Earlier, Pakistan carved out 3-1 victory over Egypt 13 in the quarter-final. The scores were 99-37, 10-60, 62-38, 68-63.

Pakistani pair is now scheduled to play Iran two in the semi-final on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the unbeaten run of Sajjad in the 6-Reds event was over when he went down to Poland’s Kacper Filipiak 2-5. The Polish player won the duel 25-37, 33-24, 45-1, 40-9, 32-20, 15-38, 47-1.

Results: 6-Reds quarter-final:

Kacper Filipiak (Poland) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Pakistan) 5-2 (25-37, 33-24, 45-1, 40-9, 32-20, 15-38, 47-1).

Team event:

Pre quarter-final: Pakistan bt Egypt 13 3-1 (99-37, 10-60, 62-38, 68-63)

Quarter-final: Pakistan bt India-One 4-1 (31-71, 80-41, 62-17, 84-11, 51-14).

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2014