KARACHI: Pakistan’s Mohammad Bilal kept his giant-killing run intact when he sneaked into the semi-finals as his two compatriots’ national champion Mohammad Sajjad and Pakistan No 2 Asjad Iqbal met their fate in the last 32-round and pre quarter-finals of the 33rd Asian Snooker Championship at Doha on Thursday.

According to information made available here, after winning the last-32 round match, first of the knockout stage, against Thailand’s Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 4-2 (39-77, 25-87, 69-36, 57-34, 75-6, 72-48) on Wednesday, Bilal won successive matches to keep his chances alive and ensure at least a bronze for the country.

He hammered a century and a half-century break while getting the better of fellow Pakistani Asjad Iqbal in the fully stretched battle by 4-3 frames to cruise into the last eight.

After notching up breaks of 54 and 100 in the first and second frames he squandered the advantage conceding the next three frames to trail 2-3 in the best of seven frames battle. However, he put his acts together to win the next two frames and the battle with the scores being 91-15, 101-26, 0-80, 3-76, 12-69, 87-20, 56-34.

Before bowing out Asjad also replied with two elegant breaks of 80 and 76 in the third and fourth frames.

Bilal’s next victim in the quarter-final was Malaysian Mohammad Raza Hassan whom he sent packing 5-2 which envisaged two splendid breaks of 60 and 50 in the second and fifth frames. He was home 79-39, 80-0, 75-40, 2-56, 81-26, 0-113, 68-52.

At the time of filing this report, Bilal was up against Indian cueist and a celebrity Pankaj Advani in the best of nine frames semi-final.

Earlier, the reigning national champion Sajjad, who is not in his proper frame of mind due to his wife’s sudden death, was the first to crash out when he was humbled 4-3 by Afghanistan’s Mohammad Rais Senzahi in the last-32 round.

The Afghan cueists was home 76-29, 52-44, 21-74, 4-74, 43-60, 53-13, 58-23

Results:

Quarter-final:

Mohammad Bilal bt Mohammad Raza Hassan (Malaysia) 5-2 (79-39, 80-0, 75-40, 2-56, 81-26, 0-113, 68-52).

Pre quarter-final:

Mohammad Bilal bt Asjad Iqbal 4-3 (91-15, 101-26, 0-80, 3-76, 12-69, 87-20, 56-34).

Last 32-round:

Asjad Iqbal bt Li Yan (China) 4-1 (85-39, 67-39, 11-68, 67-36, 56-29); Mohammad Bilal bt Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon (Thailand) 4-2 (39-77, 25-87, 69-36, 57-34, 75-6, 72-48); Mohammad Rais Senzahi (Afghanistan) bt Mohammad Sajjad 4-3 (76-29, 52-44, 21-74, 4-74, 43-60, 53-13, 58-23).

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2017