COLOMBO: Pakistan’s cueists, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, continued their impressive form on the second day of the third SAARC Snooker Championship in Colomba, winning their respective matches to qualify for the knockout stage on Wednesday.

Asif — Pakistan’s most successful cueist — defeated Nepal’s Ankit Man 4-1 [84-9, 25-63, 77(54)-13, 84-20, 60-10], compiling breaks of 54 in the process.

Naseem, meanwhile, beat India’s Paras Gupta 4-2 [78-20, 15-75, 90-06, 65-42, 23-85, 55-52].

Naseem also registered a 4-1 [44-50, 62-22, 71-59, 62-42, 71-08] win over home player Mohamed Musharaff earlier in the day, while Asif had a bye.

With their wins, both Asif and Naseem have qualified for the knockout stage, which will begin on Thursday with the quarter-finals.

In other matches, Susantha Botheju of Sri Lanka beat Paras 4-2, while Kamal Chawla of India defeated Nepal’s Ayush Gautam 4-0.

Bangladesh’s Ahamed Nizamuddin edged out Sri Lanka’s Murugesu Prathap 4-3 in a riveting see-saw match.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2025