KARACHI: Pakistan A, India A, Iran and Thailand stormed into the semi-finals of the 2nd Asian Team Event Snooker championship 2014 after overpowering their respective rivals in the quarter-finals here on Friday.
Both the semi-finals as well as the final will be played on Saturday (today).
Pakistan A will be taking on Thailand and India A will clash with Iran in the pre-finals, due to start simultaneously at 10am. The final is scheduled to commence at 3pm.
Two of the three home outfits having entered the competition, Pakistan B and Pakistan C, failed to qualify for the knockout stage after losing narrowly to their opponents in last league outings. Pakistan A, comprising Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sajjad, extended their excellent form to keep the hosts afloat.
They emerged the Group D champions by winning all their three league matches. After outwitting Thailand 3-2 and whipping Qatar 3-0, they cleaned up Palestine in straight frames.
They were tested by the young Indian outfit, featuring Ketan Chawla, Varun Madhan and Rahul Ajay Sachdev in the quarter-finals but Asif’s classy break of 124 in the fourth frame settled the issue.
Pakistan A will now lock horns with Thailand, who have Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn and Boonyarit Kaettikun, in the semi-finals.
Iran, being represented by Hossien Vafaei Ayouri, a former world champion, and Amir Sarkosh, having clinched the Asian 6-Reds title earlier in the week, will face
India A, featuring Kamal Chawla, Mohammad Faisal Khan and Dharmendra Singh Lilly, in the semi-finals.
It’s expected to be a fierce fight between two of the best teams.
There was disappointment for Pakistan B, having Shahid Aftab, Imran Shahzad and Mohammad Bilal, as they finished third in the Group C, having lost to Syria as well as Afghanistan A, who progressed to the quarter-finals.
Pakistan C, composed of Asjad Iqbal, Shahram Changezi and Sohail Shahzad, had a similar fate in the Group B, losing to Iran as well as India B, who shared the top two slots to enter the knockout stage.
Sohail Shahzad’s sensational break of 139, the highest break so far, went in vain as Pakistan C were edged by Iran after a tense five-frame battle. The Iranians had pocketed the first couple of frames but the home side fought back gallantly to make it two-all. The visitors, however, took the decisive fifth frame.
Results:
First round: Iran bt Pakistan C 3-2 (62-41, 110-01, 0-139, 21-76, 64-48); Pakistan A bt Palestine 3-0 (71-24, 76-0, 71-12); India B bt Pakistan C 3-2 (6-84, 57-71, 68-39, 80-28, 68-53); Syria bt Bahrain 3-2 (46-66, 67-15, 57-34, 33-74, 53-31); Afghanistan A bt Pakistan B 3-2 (7-66, 64-39, 8-80, 133-0, 54-38); Hong Kong bt India A 3-2 (24-85, 69-68, 28-75, 73-23, 73-21); Iran bt Singapore 3-1 (43-62, 59-30, 88-27, 113-9); Thailand bt Syria (walkover)
Quarter-finals: Pakistan A bt India B 3-1 (84-24, 6-80, 67-17, 124-0); India A bt Syria (73-30, 96-01, 45-60, 11-89, 74-47); Thailand bt Hong Kong 3-1 (77-18, 89-44, 42-63, 81-37); Iran bt Afghanistan A 3-2 (20-68, 66-09, 0-136, 85-0, 74-0).
No comments:
Post a Comment