KARACHI: Seventh-ranked Mohammad Bilal, who emerged group ‘B’ champion, stormed back from 1-4 down to post a thrilling 5-4 victory over the 10th-ranked Babar Masih and sneak into the semi-finals of the Jubilee Insurance third ranking snooker championship here at Karachi Gymkhana on Wednesday.

Babar, who finished runner-up in group ‘C’, had a brisk start taking commandable lead over his opponent in the best of nine frames quarter-final, also hammering an elegant break of 114 in the fifth frame in the process.

Needing just one frame to win, he saw the lead slip from his hand and never recovered.

On the other hand, Bilal, who suffered similar 4-5 defeat at the hands of Abdul Sattar in the quarter-finals of the NBP Cup in August, kept his patience winning the last four frames and the match.

He won the duel 57-69, 0-102, 58-17, 14-61, 0-114, 65-44, 61-41, 71-59, 58-56.

Bilal is now slated to meet Sindh’s Zulfiqar A Qadir who halted the run of former Pakistan No 1 Khurram Agha by inflicting a 5-2 defeat.

Qadir conceded third and sixth frames while winning the battle 105-6, 69-0, 14-60, 83-18, 73-5, 8-61, 98-5.

Pakistan’s top cueist Asjad Iqbal and former world amateur snooker champion Mohammad Asif joined Bilal and Qadir in the semis.

Asjad, the NBP Cup champion, justified his billing while brushing aside sixth seed Mubashir Raza 5-1 (83-27, 70-30, 1-78, 56-3, 72-24, 82-29) while Asif, who has slipped to ninth ranking, got the better of 19th ranked Mohammad Ahsan Javaid 5-2. Final scores were 17-74, 78-2, 66-7, 60-54, 78-22, 12-80, 71-34.

The best of 11 frames semi-finals will be played separately on Thursday. Asif is pitted against Asjad in the first semi-final at 10am while Bilal faces Zulfiqar Qadir at 12.30pm. The curtain falls on the event on Friday with the final.

Results (Quarter-finals(: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 5-2 (17-74, 78-2, 66-7, 60-54, 78-22, 12-80, 71-34); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 5-1 (83-27, 70-30, 1-78, 56-3, 72-24, 82-29); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Babar Masih (Punjab) 5-4 (57-69, 0-102, 58-17, 14-61, 0-114, 65-44, 61-41, 71-59, 58-56); Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh) bt Khurram Agha (Sindh) 5-2 (105-6, 69-0, 14-60, 83-18, 73-5, 8-61, 98-5).

Thursday’s semi-final fixtures (Best of 11 frames): Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) at 10am; Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh) at 12.30pm.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2017