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KARACHI: Reigning national champion Muhammad Asif suffered his second defeat in the 28th Asian Snooker Championship being held in Doha (Qatar) as he lost 2-4 to Karam Fatima of Syria.
Sargodha-born Asif, who finished as runner-up in the 2010 Asian championship in Thailand was tied 2-all but Karam won the last two frames to register 73-12, 24-59, 59-25, 34-93, 80-10, 55-10 victory.
Drawn in group A, Karam, who had the honor of chalking the tournament's highest break of 140 demonstrated better to record his third successive win. Earlier, top seed Aditya Mehta beat Muhammad Asif 4-2.
Debutant Sultan Muhammad had made a fine start by winning his opening two group C matches.
Top two cueists from each of eight groups will qualify for the last 16 knock-out rounds.
