Despite a resolute performance in the doubles frame, the campaign of Qatar 1’s Ahmed Saif and Ali al-Obaidli came to a halt at the quarter-finals stage of the Asian Team Snooker Championship yesterday.
The Qatari duo were up against the unbeaten Chinese teenaged team of Wu Yize, 14, and Pang Junxu, 18, for a spot in the last four at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation Hall.
Yize took the first frame against Saif 107-6 after putting together a 76-point break, before Junxu won the second frame 74-1.
Patience paid off as the hosts duo managed to stay in the game in the doubles frame with a close 64-43 win.
In the fourth, even as al-Obaidli pushed Yize, the latter eventually sealed a 57-43 win for a spot in the semis.
Yize-Junxu combine have dropped just three frames from their four matches so far, including a 3-0 sweep of India 1, comprising Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra, in the group stages on Wednesday.
The experienced Indian team, who had won the IBSF-ACBS World Team Snooker Cup in March this year, made it to the semi-final stage nonetheless with a 3-0 sweep of Thailand in the quarters.
Chandra held off Passakorn Suwannawat in the first frame, before a 64-point break by Advani took the second frame away from Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon.
Advani’s 99-point break in the doubles frame gave the Thai duo no chance to stay in the game.
Both the teams from Pakistan made it to the last-four stage, with Pakistan 2’s Mohamed Majid Ali and Mohamed Bilal set to play the Indians in semis today afternoon.
They beat Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka Wai and Fung Kwok Wai 3-2 in yesterday’s quarters.
Cheung, 19, gave Hong Kong the lead taking the first frame against Ali, before Bilal restored parity beating Fung. The Pakistani duo then took the lead with a doubles frame victory before Cheung forced a decider with a win over Bilal.
Ali stayed calm against the more experienced Fung to take his team into the semis.
Pakistan 1’s Mohamed Asif and Babar Masih would be hoping to make amends from the IBSF-ACBS World Team Snooker Cup six months ago, having finished runner-up in the March 2018 tournament.
However, to reach the final and eventually the title, the two have to take on China’s Yize and Junxu in today’s semis.
Yesterday, Ehsan Heydari Nezhad gave Iran a blockbuster start in the quarter-final with breaks of 48 and 51, blanking Masih 104-0.
However, Asif restored parity beating Amir Sarkhosh 72-24. In a nerve-racking doubles frame, Nezhad and Sarkhosh eked out a 69-59 win.
Pushed to the corner, both Asif and Masih came away with close wins in their reverse singles frames to make it to the semis.
The semi-finals will be played today at 1:30pm, before the final at 5:30pm.
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