MANAMA: Pakistani snooker players continued their impressive runs across multiple events at the IBSF World Championships here at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Monday, with Mohammad Hasnain Akhtar and Mohammad Asif securing notable wins in the Under-21 and men’s 6-Red categories, respectively.

Teenage sensation Hasnain, fresh off his U-17 world title triumph, continued his impressive run in the U-21 event.

He began by overpowering Sri Lanka’s Khaled Gazali 3-0, showcasing heavy scoring with breaks of 53 and 41 in the first frame (100(53,41)-1) and a superb 111 clearance — the highest break of the U-21 round matches — in the second frame (111(111)-1), before winning the third (67-40). Hasnain followed this with another 3-0 victory against David Nistor of Romania, winning closely contested frames [48-44, 79-29, 71(40)-2].

Fellow Pakistani Ahsan Ramzan had mixed results. He started strongly with a convincing 3-0 win over Indian cueist Bhavya Pipaliya (98-4, 54-32, 57-46).

However, he later suffered a 1-3 defeat to Hong Kong’s Langyi Ryan Li.

Ahsan — the second youngest amateur champion — won the third frame with breaks of 43 and 31 [74(43,31)-1], but Li took the other frames [72-64, 53(33)-18, 65(54)-36] to secure the match. Following the win Hasnain advanced to the pre-quarters while Ahsan ensured progress to the last 30.

In the 6-Red event, veteran Asif, who clinched his third IBSF title on Friday, registered another win as he downed home hope Punait Saqer 4-2.

Asif won the first (39-12), third (35-22), fourth (45-8) and sixth frames (41-16), while Saqer claimed the second (8-43) and fifth frames (21-34).

Meanwhile, current national champion Shahid Aftab faced a tough challenge against Hong Kong’s Chang Yu Kiu, succumbing 0-4 (0-48, 16-27, 6-33, 4-43).

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2025