KARACHI: Moham­mad Bilal, the silver medallist of the recently concluded Asian 6-Reds snooker championship, won back-to-back matches to sneak into the last four and stay in contention for the crown at the inaugural ACBS 10-Reds Asian Tour in Doha on Friday.

Pakistan’s former national champion Bilal first breezed past Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh 5-0 (52-13, 57-1, 67-8, 71-17, 39-29) in the pre-quarters and then crossed another hurdle by getting the better of Thailand’s Pongsakorn Chongjairak 5-3 the scores being 38-39, 58-47, 32-67, 92-6, 54-0, 47-22, 16-62, 38-18 in the quarter-final.

Bilal is now slated to meet Hong Kong’s Chrung Ka Wai in the best of nine frames semi-final on Saturday noon. The semi-final will be followed by the final.

Meanwhile, Bilal’s two other compatriots, Pakistan No.1 Babar Masih and Haris Tahir, made their exit in the pre quarter-finals.

China’s Wu Yize thumped Babar 5-3 (60-0, 37-48, 90-0, 53-23, 44-49, 63-5, 1-57, 51-20) while Indian cele­brity Pankaj Advani coasted to 5-2 victory over Haris (55-31, 42-44, 48-47, 0-73, 67-0, 48-1, 49-25) to advance.

Results:

Pre quarter-finals:

Wu Yize (China) bt Babar Masih 5-3 (60-0, 37-48, 90-0, 53-23, 44-49, 63-5, 1-57, 51-20); Pankaj Advani (India) bt Haris Tahir 5-2 (55-31, 42-44, 48-47, 0-73, 67-0, 48-1, 49-25); MOhammad Bilal bt Amir Sarkhosh (Iran) 5-0 (52-13, 57-1, 67-8, 71-17, 39-29).

Quarter-final:

Mohammad Bilal bt Pongsakorn Chongjairak (Thailand) 5-3 (38-39, 58-47, 32-67, 92-6, 54-0, 47-22, 16-62, 38-18).

Saturday’s fixtures:

Semi-final: (Best of nine frames):

Mohammad Bilal v Chrung Ka Wai (Hong Kong).

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2018