DOHA: Pakistan’s cueists had a mixed day at the ACBS Asian Men Snooker Championship on Monday, but all three players — Mohammad Sajjad, Mohammad Asif and Shahid Aftab — managed to advance to the knockout round.

Sajjad and Asif cruised to victory but the reigning national champion Shahid lost his match against Mohamed Shehab of the UAE.

In the first match, Sajjad, runner-up in the national championship, dominated Ayman Alamri of Saudi Arabia, winning 4-1 [67-57, 68-33, 73(56)-7, 70-83, and 73-46] with a break of 56 in third frame.

Shahid, meanwhile, lost 4-2 [124(102)-6, 57-8, 43-67(56), 35-84, 67(51)-36, 80-18] to Shehab, but still advanced to the knockout round.

Shehab started strongly as he made a century break in the first frame of the match. The cueist of UAE then won the next frame before the 43-year-old Shahid rallied to take the next two frames to level the score.

But Shehab halted the comeback as he clinched the fifth frame with a break of 51 before wrapping up the victory in the following frame.

Asif, Pakistan’s most successful cueist, maintained his winning run intact with a 4-1 [70(57)-31, 12-55(53), 76(75)-39, 85-36, 76(76)-0] win over Iran’s Siyavosh Mozayani.

Asif’s breaks of 57, 75 and 76 in the first, third and fifth frames helped him secure a convincing victory.

The 40-year-old Sajjad ensured his progress to the next round when he won his second match of the day against Fung Kwok Wai of Hong Kong 4-2 [101(65)-25, 75(58)-0, 79(63)-30, 50-75, 48-77(71), 63-52].

Sajjad started the match dominantly as he won the first three frames with breaks of 65, 58 and 63, respectively. Wai denied Sajjad the clean sweep as he clinched the fourth and fifth frame before Sajjad wrapped the win in the sixth frame.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2025