KARACHI: After failing to rise to the occasion in the preceding 6-Reds event, the three home teams were on song in the Jubilee Insurance second Asian Team Event which commenced at Hotel Avari Towers on Thursday.

Drawn into group ‘D’, Pakistan’s main outfit ‘A’ that comprised Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sajjad conjured up successive but contrasting victories — one in each session — to earn a place in the last eight (quarter-finals).

In morning, the Asif-Sajjad pair, losing finalist of world team event to Hong Kong One at Egypt in June, recovered from 1-2 down to inflict a 3-2 defeat on Thailand.

Pakistan had a shaky start when Sajjad lost the opener 20-106. However, Asif restored parity winning the next frame 67-33. Again, the home pair fell prey to their opponents losing the doubles 34-77 to trail 1-2 in the best of five frames battle.

Sajjad draw level winning the reverse singles 134-0, while Asif completed the rout taking the decisive frame 68-34.

In evening, the victorious home duo thumped Qatar straight (84-4, 79-10, 103-7) to stay unbeaten.

Pakistan ‘B’ outplayed Bahrain 3-0 and Syria 3-1 to seal a place in last eight from group ‘C’.

Pakistan ‘C’ stormed back from two frames down to register 3-2 victory over Singapore. The scores were 53-63, 35-60, 78-3, 85-11, 66-20.

Their second match against Iran that started late was in progress at the time of filing this report.

Qatar’s 1-3 loss at the hands of low-profile Palestine raised quite a few eyebrows.

Team event results:

Morning session: Iran bt India B 3-0 (79-11, 78-55, 134-0); Syria bt Afghanistan A 3-1 (87-19, 62-43, 17-87, 109-4); Palestine bt Qatar 3-1 (28-60, 64-8, 53-38, 74-46); Hong Kong bt Afghanistan B 3-0 (68-13, 49-27, 51-38); Pakistan C bt Singapore 3-2 (53-63, 35-60, 78-3, 85-11, 66-20); Pakistan B bt Bahrain 3-0 (72-7, 78-18, 75-25); Pakistan A bt Thailand 3-2 (20-106, 67-33, 34-77, 134-0, 68-34).

Evening session: India A bt Afghanistan B 3-1 (84-34, 84-10, 40-70, 75-8); Afghanistan A bt Bahrain 3-1 (66-8, 28-86, 104-22, 91-17); Pakistan A bt Qatar 3-0 (84-4, 79-10, 103-7); India B bt Singapore 3-0 (72-25, 63-44, 103-13); Pakistan B bt Syria 3-1 (67-60, 16-97, 67-49, 89-28); Thailand bt Palestine 3-0 (95-6, 91-8, 63-53).

Friday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Pakistan C v India B; Bahrain v Syria; Pakistan A v Palestine; India A v Hong Kong; Iran v Singapore; Afghanistan A v Pakistan B; Qatar v Thailand.

At 3pm: Quarter-finals.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2014