Saleh, Khurram, Sajjad for PQF of Asian Snooker
'Pakistan Times' Sports Desk

DUBAI (United Arab Emirates): Pakistan cuemen trio of Saleh Muhammad, Khurram Agha and Muhammad Sajjad Rana enjoyed a great day in the 24th Asian Snooker Championship by registering their third win on Monday evening.

Saleh, who is under great spotlight after his historic 147 break on the first day, carved out the breaks of 87, 36 and 41 while overcoming spirited Jordanian cueist Abdulla Okaily 4-2 at Dubai Police Club.

Peshawar-based Saleh started with a brilliant 87 break to take the opening frame. However Okaily, who stunned top seed Yasin Merchant of India, the previous day pulled the next frame.

Breaks of 36 and 41 saw Saleh gaining 3-1 lead by picking up the next two frames despite a neat break of 48 by his opponent in third frame. Abdulla Okaily won the next frame to make it 2-3. Before things go out of hands, Saleh settled the issue by potting the deciding black ball to win the interesting final frame 58-51.

Saleh’s group was reduced to five players after the pull out of Iranian cueist Ahmed Mazahedi. He has completed his four league match outing and barring any miracle he had qualified for the pre-quarterfinal round.

Muhammad Sajjad, showing good comeback after unexpected loss to UAE number 7 Eissa Al Sayed, recovered after dropping the first frame to route Khaled Al Awais from Kuwait 4-1.

Sajjad lost the opening frame on a black ball but easily picked the second to level the score. Sajjad a youngsters from Sargodha, was with a great opportunity to make a clearance of 123. But he missed a difficult green ball to end a break 98.

Growing in confidence, Sajjad raced to victory by grabbing the next two frames which included a break of 74 in the fourth frame.

Khurram Agha showed no real firework as he beat Phan Thanh Thuy 4-2. After winning the first two frames, Khurram allowed his opponent to level the terms 2-2 laced with break of 54 in third frame.

However, Khurram after a lapse in concentration, out-potted Pham to seize victory.

Former World Champion Pankaj Advani of India confirmed his passage into the knock-out round when defeated Habib Subah of Bahrain 4-2 this included his second century break.

Highly talented Advani constructed the break of 120 the fourth and 63 in the last frame to record his fifth win at trot. Indian will meet 6th seed Zhang Anda of China to decide the group “F” Champion.

After Tuesday’s rest day for Pakistan’s Muhammad Sajjad and Khurram Agha, they will play their crucial last league matches on Wednesday. Victory for all both will assure them a place in the last-16 round of the championship.
Following are results:

Muhammad Sajjad (Pakistan) bt Khaled Al Awais (Kuwait) 4-1 (52-57, 57-33, 107-0, 116-07, 69-34, Khurram Agha (Pakistan) bt Phan Thanh Thuy (Vietnam) 4-2 (80-39, 86-36, 24-76, 15-60, 64-13, 60-24), Saleh Muhammad (Pakistan) bt Abdulla Okaily (Jordan) 27-78, 66-22, 70-48, 45-72, 58-51), Pankaj Advani (India) bt Habib Subah (Bahrain) 4-2 (60-29, 54-63, 120-08, 13-79, 63-57, Ahmed Saif (Qatar) bt Zuraish Hashim (Sri Lanka) 4-0 (96-20, 93-05, 82-17, 69-11), Jin Long (China) bt Thepachaiya Un-noo (Thailand) 57-40, 101-25, 95-26, 74-09, 75-01) Muhammad Mustufa Shehab (UAE) bt Takao Kuraminto (Japan) 52-60, 64-31, 83-23, 113-14, 63-35), Renat William Denak (Iraq) bt Khaled Al Damen (Jordan) 4-0 (87-27, 60-25, 58-30, 50-18), Au Chi Wai (Hong Kong) bt Hwang Chui Ho (Korea) 4-0 (117-01, 94-01, 103-15, 63-28), Moh Keen Hoo (Malaysia) bt Lim Chun Kiat (Singapore) 4-1 (25-72, 71-30, 58-55, 57-53, 73-0), Omar Al Alyiani (Saudi Arabia) bt Omar Al Kojah (Syria) 17-69, 85-49, 60-39, 56-27, 62-43), Lai Chee Wei (Malaysia) bt Passakoran Suwannawat (Thailand) 4-1 (63-37, 62-04, 53-41, 0-113, 67-51) .●