KARACHI:
Pakistan’s Mohammad Majid Ali moved into the
pre-quarterfinals of the IBSF World U21 Snooker Championship after
beating compatriot Mohammad Fahim 5-2 in their last-32 clash in Al
Fujairah, UAE.
Majid started off brilliantly, winning the first frame, which
included a break of 94 points and doubled his lead by winning the
following frame.Fahim managed to cut the deficit to 2-1 with hopes of getting something out of the match. However, Majid went on to win two consecutive frames to take a strong lead of 4-1 which laid the foundation of his victory.
He won with a scoreline of 112-26(94), 74-23, 08-77, 64-30, 83-0, 60-72 and 81-52.
Meanwhile, Hamza Akbar – who was Pakistan’s best hope along with Majid in the mega event – faltered at the last-32 stage as he was defeated by Scotland’s Lee Mein 5-4 in a closely contested duel.
Akbar was initially leading 2-1, but Mein won the next three frames consecutively to tilt the balance in his favour by making it 4-2. However, Akbar came up with a rescue act to make it 4-4 and take the game into decider, which was won by Mein by a difference of only 11 points.
Mein won by 06-73, 67-38, 35-69, 72-10, 78-31, 55-33, 29-58, 21-75 and 72-61.
Earlier, Haris Nadeem lost his last-64 match against Australia’s Kurt Brown.