DOHA: Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif and Asjad Iqbal secured their places in the IBSF World Snooker Championship on Friday but compatriot Ahsan Ramzan failed to progress.

In the qualifying stage last-16 match, Asif, a two-time amateur world snooker champion, edged out countryman Asjad 4-2 [78-32, 08-84(76), 88(53)-08, 86(52)-63), 04-78(69), 80(64)-25].

Asif dominated the frames, compiling breaks of 53, 52, and 64. The 31-year-old current national champion, Asjad, showed resilience, taking two frames with breaks of 76 and 69 in the second and fifth frame, respectively.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Ahsan Ramzan suffered a 4-3 [110-46, 17-70, 66-02, 33-52, 76(50)-46, 11-56, 57-47] loss to Sri Lanka’s Thaha Irshath.

Ahsan, 2022 world amateur champion, traded blow for blow but fell short in an extremely close battle. Despite the loss, Pakistan’s contingent received a boost as Asjad secured an additional spot due to his impressive performance in the first qualifying stage.

Asjad joins Asif, Awaisullah Muneer and Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, who will represent Pakistan in the championship.

The IBSF World Snooker Championship begins Saturday.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2024