KARACHI: Pakistan’s top two cueists – Mohammad Sajjad and Mohammad Asif Toba – continued their winning sequence by registering second victories in a row while Hamza Akbar made amends for earlier loss in the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) world amateur championship in Bangalore on Friday.

Drawn in group P, Sajjad who is a former champion of Korat Cup - a Thai ranking event, blanked Dominik Scherubi of Austria straight 4-0 (84-28, 74-50, 88-1, 63-32). He had earlier sent Indian I. V. Rajeev packing 4-0 in the opener on Thursday.

National champion Mohammad Asif Toba pulled off sort of an upset while handing a 4-3 defeat to Ireland’s Josh Boileau in the battle that went full distance. The latter is the losing finalist of this year’s World under-21 snooker championship.

Asif Toba, who humbled Adrian Ridley of Australia 4-0 the other day in group R fixture, fought back from 2-3 down to register a magnificent win. The scores were 61-14, 25-80, 31-90, 60-15, 15-101, 88-13, 54-36.

The Irish cueist scored a solid break of 80 in the fifth frame to seize 3-2 lead but a fighting Toba didn’t allow him any further room, taking the last two frames to seal the fate.

Talented Hamza breezed past Egyptian Hatem Yaseen 4-3 by winning the decisive frame on Friday morning in group C. The triumph also include an elegant break of 90 in the third frame.

Hamza won the duel 70-6, 44-72, 95-14, 43-66, 69-6, 58-68, 59-17.

Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, the Pakistani trio were engaged in their respective third match.

Results:

Hamza Akbar (Pakistan) bt Hatem Yaseen (Egypt) 4-3 (70-6, 44-72, 95-14, 43-66, 69-6, 58-68, 59-17).

Friday’s results:

Mohammad Sajjad (Pakistan) bt Dominik Scherubi (Austria) 4-0 (84-28, 74-50, 88-1, 63-32); Mohammad Asif Toba (Pakistan) bt Josh Boileau (Ireland) 4-3 (61-14, 25-80, 31-90, 60-15, 15-101, 88-13, 54-36).

Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2014