Qatari trio off to a winning start at home event

4/17/2016 1:10:39 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Ahmed Saif of Qatar in action during the Asian Snooker Championship at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF) Academy yesterday. Pictures By: Abdul Basit

Doha: Top seeds Pankaj Advani of India and Mohammad Asif of Pakistan along with three home cueists Ali Alobaidli Ahmed Saif and Mohsen Bukshaisha began their campaign in the Asian Snooker Championship at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF) Academy on a winning note. Last year’s runner-up and top seed Advani began with a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia’s Sulaiman Almisfer.

In his first match of the group stage Pankaj defeated Almisfer in straight frames 82-26 81-0676-2370-15 with breaks of 67 and 69 in the second and fourth frame respectively.

The winner of the championship in Qatar will be eligible to play on the Pro Circuit. Last year Hamza Akbar of Pakistan won the event defeating Advani in the final and is now part of the Pro Circuit.

Also winning yesterday was Asif the 34-year-old from Faisalabad. The former winner of the World Amateur Snooker Championship defeated Khaled Alastal of Palestine 4-0.

The hosts had something to cheer about as three of them won on the opening day of the championship.

Ali who is in the same group as Advani defeated Alvin Barbero of the Philippines.

In the other results Saif won against Ahmed Janahi of Bahrain while Bukshaisha kept the winning momentum by defeating Amir Sarkhosh of Iran.

Mohsin Al Abdulrahman Mhanaa Alobaidli Bashar Abdulmajeed Khalid Alsalem and Abdulatif Alfawal are the other home competitors among a field of 58 players from 20 countries taking part in the seven-day championship.

The players have been divided into 12 groups for the preliminary rounds. All the league matches up to the pre-quarters stage are best of 7 frames while the quarter-finals and the semi- finals will be best of 9 frames.

The final will be played on April 23 at 11:00 am and will be a best of 11 frames affair.

The winner of the event will get $3500 and the runner-up $1750. The losing semi-finalists will collect $500 each.

The organisers have also line-up cash awards for the highest break and maximum break.

The player with the highest break (over 100 points) will pocket $500 and those with maximum break (above 147) is set to go home with $1750.

Today’s action begins at 10.00am and at the day’s action ends with the 7.00pm clashes.

The Peninsula

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