KARACHI: Pakistan’s Asjad Iqbal and Babar Masih ended the 35th Asian Snooker Championship by securing a bronze medal apiece after tasting defeats in the semi-finals on late Thursday evening.
According to results, world renowned Pankaj Advani of India came from the jaws of defeat to turn the tables on Asjad cruising to 5-4 victory in the best of nine frames semi-final.
Advani, who is struggling with form, was home 31-68, 1-54, 40-76, 1-96, 78-8, 89-33, 55-14, 89-24, 52-26.
Asjad, runner-up of this year’s national championship, was off to a brisk start as he won one frame after other to surge 4-0 up in the match that also includes a splendid break of 81 in the fourth frame.
Advani, who has many world titles of snooker and billiards under his belt, made a comeback in the game by taking next five frames in a row to avert the defeat.
It may be mentioned that Advani was reseeded 24th and Asjad 21st after the league.
Second seed Thailand’s Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon made a shortwork of former Pakistan No 1 and sixth seed Babar Masih with a 5-2 victory (20-85, 59-21, 67-4, 83-14, 66-27, 47-68, 89-39).
.Meanwhile, the Asian 6-Reds sprang into action at the same venue and will be followed by Asian team championship. Results:
Semi-finals: Pankaj Advani (India) bt Asjad Iqbal 5-4 (31-68, 1-54, 40-76, 1-96, 78-8, 89-33, 55-14, 89-24, 52-26); Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon (Thailand) bt Babar Masih 5-2 (20-85, 59-21, 67-4, 83-14, 66-27, 47-68, 89-39).
Asian 6-Reds results: Zulfiqar A. Qadir bt Deng Haohui (China) 5-2 (56-6, 30-46, 31-28, 6-50, 50-30, 45-35, 31-14).
Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2019
