(From left) This mixture 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 nations, and each Asif and Aftab remained unbeaten on day one, profitable each their group matches.
Positioned in Group C, IBSF world champion Asif displayed distinctive type 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 submit 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 laborious in each of his Group B encounters, profitable 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 a superb break of 88 within the third body to reclaim the lead, and later sealed the match with regular potting within the decider.
Towards Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef, Aftab made a outstanding comeback from 0-2 all the way down to win 3-2. The body scores have been 25-70, 31-53, 79-06, 58-13, and 103-25.
The Pakistani cueist produced two fantastic breaks — a 48 within the third body and a decisive 73 within the fifth — to show the match round and safe an important 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.
