Pakistani Snooker participant Asjad Iqbal might be seen on this undated picture. — Reporter/File
KARACHI: Pakistan’s seasoned cueist Asjad Iqbal outclassed India’s Pankaj Advani 4-0 of their World Cup of Snooker quarter-final on the Lively Oman Sports activities and Leisure Hub in Muscat, Oman, on Tuesday.
Asjad made a blazing begin to the knockout tie, compiling an outstanding break of 81 to take the opening body 100-0. Advani supplied some resistance within the subsequent body with 37 factors, however Asjad piled up 92 to maneuver 2-0 forward.
The third body noticed Asjad registering one other 50-plus break (68) and effortlessly received it 117-16 to maneuver one inside victory.
He denied Advani any likelihood to pressure a comeback and received the decisive fourth body 83-21 to spherical up an ideal 4-0 victory, which propelled him into the semi-finals, the place he’ll sq. off towards France’s Nicolas Mortreux, who booked his place within the Ultimate 4 by defeating Hong Kong China’s Nansen Wan 4-1.
For the unversed, Asjad Iqbal defeated one other Indian opponent, Hussain Khan, 3-0 within the spherical of 32.
Curiously, after the match, each gamers confirmed sportsmanship by shaking palms and in addition hugged one another, which is a uncommon prevalence attributable to India’s politicisation of sports activities, which emerged from the ACC Males’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 in September.
The arch rivals met thrice within the continental event, and Indian gamers noticeably prevented post-toss and post-match handshakes with their Pakistan counterparts.
The controversy didn’t stay restricted to the lads’s occasions, as an analogous state of affairs occurred on the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) Girls’s World Cup 2025, the place each groups’ captains, Harmanpreet Kaur and Fatima Sana, prevented shaking palms on the toss.
The handshake controversy between the arch-rivals resurfaced on Sunday throughout the ACC Males’s Asia Cup Rising Stars 2025 conflict between India ‘A’ and Pakistan Shaheens, as captains Jitesh Sharma and Irfan Niazi skipped the customary handshake on the toss.
