Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh kept his sheets at the Asian Snooker Championships clean when he made it to the quarter-finals of the five-day tournament yesterday.
The 30-year-old had not lost a single frame through the group stages and advanced to the knockouts as the top seed. In his first knockout game of the tournament yesterday against Ankit Man Shrestha, who was the first player from Nepal to reach the last-16, Sarkhosh continued his clinical form, taking a 4-0 win with ease.
Sarkhosh set up an all-Iranian quarter-final against Siyavosh Mozayani, who beat Pakistan’s Babar Masih 4-2 yesterday.
At the other end of the draw, defending champion Pankaj Advani beat Hong Kong’s Tam Yun Fung 4-2 to set up a last-eight clash with Iraq’s Alijalil Ali.
The Iraqi 30-year-old was in smashing form, hitting a tournament-high break of 126 on Monday evening against Qatar’s Ali al-Obaidli, before blanking India’s Laxman Rawat yesterday.
Qatar’s challenge in the tournament came to an end yesterday after al-Obaidli lost 2-4 against Pakistan’s Haris Tahir and Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka Wai beat Ahmed Saif 4-1.