KARACHI: National champion Mohammad Bilal and former world No 2 Mohammad Sajjad emerged group champions by staying unbeaten while their compatriots Mohammad Asif and Sohail Shehzad, despite suffering defeats, joined them in the knockout round of the 32nd Asain Snooker Championship at Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.

According to results made available here, Bilal inflicted a straight 4-0 defeat on Meylis Atayev of Turkmenistan to round off his group C matches on winning note. Seeded third in the event, he won the battle 74-16, 72-8, 65-23, 75-8.

Similarly, Sajjad conjured up back-to-back victories to top group J. He swept aside Qatar’s Ahmed Saif 71-33, 71-38, 69-45, 91-0 and Bahrain’s Ahmed Al Janahi 129-8, 80-6, 102-25, 59-58 smashing a century break of 102 in the third frame.

Omar Al Ajlani of Saudi Arabia created quite a stir halting second seed former world amateur snooker champion Asif’s winning run while routing 4-0 (77-36, 123-1, 74-52, 86-6) to emerge group B champion with a frame difference of 13. Asif had to be content with second slot in the group with frame difference of four.

Similarly, another Saudi cueist Ahmed Abdullah Asiri notched up 4-1 victory over Pakistan No 2 Sohail 65-36, 51-31, 44-65, 64-31, 69-25. However, the third seed Pakistani struggled to beat Malaysian Lim Kok Leong 4-3 (30-64, 87-24, 89-4, 87-1, 32-59, 22-87, 57-6).

The knockout matches start on Wednesday.

Results:

Mohammad Bilal bt Meylis Atayev (Turkmenistan) 4-0 (74-16, 72-8, 65-23, 75-8); Ahmed Abdullah Asiri (Saudi Arabia) bt Sohail Shehzad 4-1 (65-36, 51-31, 44-65, 64-31, 69-25). Mohammad Sajjad bt Ahmed Saif (Qatar) 4-0 (71-33, 71-38, 69-45, 91-0); Omar Al Ajlani (Saudi Arabia) bt Mohammad Asif 4-0 (77-36, 123-1, 74-52, 86-6); Sohail Shehzad bt (Lim Kok Leong (Malaysia) 4-3 (30-64, 87-24, 89-4, 87-1, 32-59, 22-87, 57-6); Mohammad Sajjad bt Ahmed Al Janahi (Bahrain) 4-0 (129-8, 80-6, 102-25, 59-58).

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2016