DOHA: Pakistan’s snooker veteran Babar Masih trounced Felix Frede of Germany 4-0 in the round-of-32 match during the IBSF Men’s World Snooker Championship being held in Doha on Wednesday.

Babar wrapped the first set 68-42 after getting a break of 53 and followed it up with a brilliant 87-8 win to go 2-0 up. The 37-year-old kept his dominance in the third (86-13) before completing the rout in the fourth frame 62-29.

Meanwhile, Ahsan Ramzan blew away a 3-1 lead as he lost 4-3 against India’s Dhvaj Haria in the round-of-38 match.

Haria won the first frame 55-13 but then went onto lose three straight frames. Ahsan equalled the score after clinching the second frame 17-64 and maintained his prowess as he comfortably won the next two frames 22-59, 35-64. It seemed that Ahsan would advance easily but his Indian counterpart showed amazing grit to make a remarkable comeback.

Haria won the fifth set of the match 66-17 and equalled the score after a 76-42 win in the next. Haria then secured the victory in the final frame 73-51 to complete the brilliant comeback.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Naseem Akhtar also bowed out of the tournament after losing to Ka Wai Cheung of Hong Kong 4-2.

The duo of Ahsan and Naseem will now shift their complete attention to World Team Snooker Championship, which starts from Thursday, where they will be up against German cueists while Babar will team up with Mohammad Sajjad to face Romania.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2023