India's Rawat to take on Pakistan's Asif in semi-finals

By Mikhil Bhat/Doha

India's Laxman Singh Rawat was in fine form yesterday, making his way to the semi-finals of the Asian Snooker 6-Red Championship, which is being played out at the Qatar Billiards & Snooker Federation facility at Mansoura here.

The 21-year-old from Delhi won three matches in the knockout stages yesterday to set up his first Asian 6-Red semi-final with Pakistan's Muhammad Asif.

Rawat started the day by blanking compatriot and national 6-Red champion Shivam Arora before he beat Afghanistan's Saleh Mohamed Mohammadi 5-3. He then took a little more than an hour to down Thailand's Yuttapop Pakpoj 6-2. Such was Rawat's form that he blanked his Thai opponent, who was ranked second on the basis of the players' performances in the round-robin league, in two frames.

Asif, on the other hand, was pitted against compatriot Muhammad Sajjad in the quarterfinals, and the 31-year-old from Faisalabad made it through beating his friend 6-2.

Both the Pakistani players had posted some strong results coming into this match. While Asif won his match against UAE's Mohamed Shahab 5-1, Sajjad blanked Wang Zepeng, his Chinese opponent.

“At some level, there definitely was some sadness because both of us are compatriots, have played in the same place. So when the two come up against each other, it is a different feeling,” Asif said after the match. “I thought that both of us were playing really well in the tournament, and had we not had a match against each other, both of us would have gone still further in the tournament. But it is a part and parcel of the game.”

Asked about whether there is any anxiety about the India vs Pakistan contest today, Asif said: “It should be good fun to play against India, it will be fun to watch too. I hope that I can continue my good form and win it.”

Yesterday's form has given Rawat confidence too. “On the first day I was really nervous and under pressure because it was my first Asian 6-Red Championship and there was also the pressure of qualifying for the knockout stages,” said Rawat, who took an affinity to cue sports in the pool parlours of Delhi before deciding to move to Mumbai.

“But today, after I beat Shivam and then won the other matches, that gave me confidence. Today, I just plan to go and play without any baggage,” added Rawat.

The other semi-final will be played between Mohamed al-Joaker of UAE and Iran's Amir Sarkhosh. Sarkhosh beat Hong Kong's Lee Chun Wai 6-4 in the quarter-final after beating Ali Jalil Ali of Iraq 5-3 earlier in the day.

Al-Joaker ousted Qatar's Ali Obaidly, who was the last Qatari left in the draw at the quarter-final stage, 6-4. Obaidly started his day by beating his brother Mohanna 5-2. Qatar's first professional snooker player Ahmed Saif was blanked in the first knockout round by Zepeng. Mosen Bukshaisha started the day strongly but was beaten by Pakpoj 5-2 in the pre-quarters.

The semi-finals today will be best of 11 rounds like the quarterfinals yesterday, will start at 10 am. The finals will be a best-of-13 match and will start at 4pm.