KARACHI: Former world amateur snoo­ker champion Mohammad Asif, who the other day got a walkover against Libyan opponent, notched up 4-1 victory over lowly-ranked Egyptian in the IBSF 6-Reds Snooker Cham­pionship in Hurghada on Thursday.

According to information available here, Asif won the duel against Abdelrahman Shahin by 55-13, 1-68, 47-0, 68-24, 37-28. He was due to play his last league match against Sundeep Gulati of India on Thursday night. The size of Asif’s group has been reduced from four to three players after the absence of Salah Grira of Libya.

Meanwhile, national champion Mohammad Sajjad survived a scare against Egyptian novice cueist Mohamed Abdel Hakim before winning the match 4-2 (22-30, 41-19, 46-2, 18-32, 33-19, 34-25). He has won his group opener against Jordan’s Ashraf Abu Alhaj straight 53-24, 68-0, 65-8, 34-18 on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, Asjad Iqbal and Mohammad Naseem Akhtar also kept their winning run intact to strengthen their positions for making it to the knockout stage.

Iqbal was home 4-2 against Mahmoud Elhareedy of Egypt (21-30, 32-33, 45-20, 33-27, 25-17, 46-0) while Akhtar blanked Russian Petr Seveljev straight 57-7, 35-19, 47-1, 45-0 on Wednesday..

Results:

Mohammad Asif bt Abdelrahman Shahin (Egypt) 4-1 (55-13, 1-68, 47-0, 68-24, 37-28); Mohammad Sajjad bt Mohamed Abdel Hakim (Egypt) 4-2 (22-30, 41-19, 46-2, 18-32, 33-19, 34-25).

Monday’s remaining results:

Mohammad Sajjad bt Ashraf Abu Alhaj (Jordan) 4-0 (53-24, 68-0, 65-8, 34-18); Asjad Iqbal bt Mahmoud Elhareedy (Egypt) 4-2 (21-30, 32-33, 45-20, 33-27, 25-17, 46-0); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar bt Petr Seveljev (Russia) 4-0 (57-7, 35a-19, 47-1, 45-0.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2017