KARACHI: Pakistan remained in contention for the Asian snooker title, courtesy former national champion and Pakistan No 2 Mohammad Bilal who sneaked into the semi-finals, as his contemporary Babar Masih lost in the quarter-finals at Tabriz, Iran, on Thursday.

According to results made available here, Bilal coasted to an efficient 5-3 victory over Qatar’s Ahmed Saif (2-61, 58-54, 76-32, 62-8, 46-71, 38-65, 55-17, 113-1) to inch closer towards the title.

Iran’s Ali Gahraghouzlo, meanwhile, overcome fighting Babar inflicting 5-4 defeat in the other quarter-final to join fellow countrymen Ehsan Heydari Nezhad and Amir Sarkhosh in the last four. The former won the battle (15-62, 46-83, 61-54, 116-14, 67-35, 29-69, 52-48, 6-64, 73-0)

Bilal is drawn to face Sarkhosh while Gahraghouzlo will be up against Ehsan Heydari in the two semi-finals that were in progress at the time of filing this report.

Curtain falls on the event on Saturday.

Results:

Quarter-finals:

Ali Gahraghouzlo (Iran) bt Babar Masih 5-4 (15-62, 46-83, 61-54, 116-14, 67-35, 29-69, 52-48, 6-64, 73-0); Mohammad Bilal bt Ahmed Saif (Qatar) 5-3 (2-61, 58-54, 76-32, 62-8, 46-71, 38-65, 55-17, 113-1).

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2018