KARACHI: Pakistan’s cueists ended their campaign in the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games at Ashgabat the other day after country’s top player Asjad Iqbal was knocked out in the last eight round of 15- Reds singles contest.

According to results made available here, Asjad was sent packing by Chinese Zhao Xintong 4-1 in the quarter-final. Xintong, twice runner-up in the IBSF world amateur snooker championship in 2013 and 2015, won the duel 103-24, 39-76, 71-0, 78-40,110-0 in convincing fashion.

The Chinese cueist piled up three elegant breaks of 58, 71 and 106 in the first, third and fifth frames on way to registering an emphatic victory.

Asjad could only extend him to five frames by snatching the second frame that includes a solid break of 76.

In the two earlier rounds, Asjad whipped Qatar’s Ahmed Saif 4-1 (61-40, 89-4, 62-50, 28-68, 64-58) in the pre quarter’s and struggled to overcome Basil Alshaijar of the Philippines 4-3 (34-62, 46-77, 68-20, 48-77, 64-31, 81-6, 76-32) in the last-32 contest.

Meanwhile, former World No 2 Mohammad Sajjad suffered 1-4 loss at the hands of Issara Kachaiwong of Thailand (64-45, 29-89, 87-15, 63-4, 88-10) in the last-32 round to make exit.

The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) hierarchy has expressed dismay on the overall performance of cueists in the event as they could only win a bronze in 6-Reds.

Pakistan snooker team is due to arrive Islamabad on Wednesday.

Results:

Quarter-final:

Zhao Xintong (China) bt Asjad Iqbal 4-1 (103-24, 39-76, 71-0, 78-40, 110-0)

Pre quarter-final:

Asjad Iqbal bt Ahmed Saif (Qatar) 4-1 (61-40, 89-4, 62-50, 28-68, 64-58).

Last-32 round:

Issara Kachaiwong (Thailand) bt Mohammad Sajjad 4-1 (64-45, 29-89, 87-15, 63-4, 88-10); Asjad Iqbal bt Basil Alshajjar (Phillippines) 4-3 (34-62, 46-77, 68-20, 48-77, 64-31, 81-6, 76-32),

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2017