(From left) This mix of photos exhibits Muhammad Asif and Shahid Aftab in motion. — Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan’s cueists Muhammad Asif and Shahid Aftab kicked off their IBSF World Masters Snooker Championship marketing campaign with spectacular wins, sealing their locations within the knockout stage on the opening day of the occasion in Bahrain.
The championship options 43 gamers from 15 international locations, and each Asif and Aftab remained unbeaten on day one, successful each their group matches.
Positioned in Group C, IBSF world champion Asif displayed distinctive kind to win each the matches with out dropping a single body. He started the day with a 3-0 victory over Oman’s Haitham Bin Ali, with body scores of 89-33, 69-4, and 53-6.
Asif registered a break of 61 within the first body and a 46 within the second, underlining his management over the desk all through the match.
He adopted it up with one other dominant 3-0 win towards Eire’s Jay Chopra, taking the frames 68-33, 79-14, and 67-16. Though he didn’t publish any main breaks on this match, Asif maintained constant scoring and tactical self-discipline to seal a complete victory.
In the meantime, Aftab needed to battle arduous in each of his Group B encounters, successful every within the deciding fifth body.
In his first match, Aftab edged Egypt’s Mohamed Noweir 3-2. The match noticed fluctuating momentum, with body scores studying 68-43, 47-64, 88-35, 31-60, and 94-36.
Aftab crafted an excellent break of 88 within the third body to reclaim the lead, and later sealed the match with regular potting within the decider.
In opposition to Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef, Aftab made a exceptional comeback from 0-2 all the way down to win 3-2. The body scores had been 25-70, 31-53, 79-06, 58-13, and 103-25.
The Pakistani cueist produced two high-quality breaks — a 48 within the third body and a decisive 73 within the fifth — to show the match round and safe a significant win.
Each Pakistani gamers will now face Indian opponents of their closing group matches on Monday, seeking to end the group stage on a excessive.
