Asif sails into last four at World Snooker in Sofia

 

KARACHI: Pakistan’s premier cueist Mohammad Asif forced his way into the semifinals of the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2012 being played in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Asif cruised into the last four by winning his fourth successive knockout game. He is now just two wins away from emulating Mohammad Yousuf, who had annexed the crown in 1994 and todate remain the only Pakistani to do so.

The 28-year-old Asif, belonging to the industrial town of Faisalabad, defeated Mer Alkojah of Syria 6-2 in the quarter-finals with the frame scores of 55-53, 50-63, 41-72, 78-50, 73-36, 99-26, 64-54, 82-40. His opponent in the semifinals, to be played late Saturday evening, will be Alex Borg of Malta.

Asif had advanced to the quarter-finals by whipping Wael Talaat of Egypt 5-2 in the pre-quarters with the frame scores of 118-0, 62-58, 37-62, 90-17, 108-1, 4-108, 77-22.

The Pakistan national champion remained in a positive frame of mind after registering a magnificent break of 117 in the opening. His opponent, who had overpowered Steve Mifusd of Australia in his earlier game, made a valiant attempt to turn the tables but couldn’t succeed in claiming more than two frames in the best-of-nine contest.

In his earlier knockout games, Asif had thrashed Vinnie Calabrese of Australia in straight frames after having toppled Yaser Elsherbiny of Egypt 4-1. He remained undefeated in the league matches, having become the Group H champion by outwitting Shachar Ruberg (Israel), Fabian Louison (Canada), Nadir Khan Sultani (Afghanistan) andAhmed Benraïssi (France).

Pakistan other cueist, Asjad Iqbal, fumbled in the very first knockout outing when he was edged out 3-4 by Billy Castle of England.

Debutant Asjad, a 23-year-old lad from Sagodha, had given an impressive account himself by leading the Group P with four straight wins over Chi Wai Au (Hong Kong), Tom Finstad (Canada), Nikola Kemilev (Bulgaria) and Sebastian Hainzl (Austria).

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