Babar Masih makes it to last 16 in World Snooker

By our correspondent
LAHORE: Pakistan’s solid cueist Babar Masih on Wednesday continued with his blistering run when he blasted his way into the last 16 in the IBSF World Snooker Championship being held in Doha.
Babar defeated Felix Frede of Germany 4-0 in the last 32 to qualify for the last 16.
Babar also managed fine breaks of 53 each in the first and third frames in his super win.
Babar had a good start to the show when he won the first frame 68-42 to take lead. He demonstrated fine skills and his potting ability was exceptional. He then went on to sweep the next three frames 87-8, 86-13 and 62-29 to seal a commanding win.
Babar was late Wednesday night scheduled to face Michael Georgiou of Cyprus in the pre-quarter-finals.
Meanwhile Pakistan’s other two cueists Mohammad Naseem Akhtar and Ahsan Ramzan lost their knockout stage matches and were exited.
Naseem exited after losing his match in the last 32 while Ahsan was shown exit door by India’s player in the last 38 show.
Naseem, who had ended as group runner-up in the league stage, went 4-2 down to Cheung Ka Wai of Hong Kong China in the last 32 showdown.
Naseem had a fine start against Cheung when he won the first frame 65-62 after a rough battle. However Cheung made a stunning fightback immediately after by managing a huge break of 85 to win the second frame 85-0 to level the score 1-1.
Naseem, who belongs to Sahiwal, then fought back with a 77-41 victory in the third frame to take 2-1 lead. Cheung then brought discipline in himself and engineered a 56-42 win in the fourth frame to bring parity.
Cheung built on his super fightback and won the next two frames 69-14 and 63-1 to seal a commanding win in the end.
The frames score was 62-65, 85-0, 41-77, 56-42, 69-14 and 63-1 in favour of Cheung.
Similarly Ahsan Ramzan was exited when he went 3-4 down to India’s Dhvaj Haria in the round of 38.
The Indian won the show with frames score of 55-13, 17-64 (51), 22-59, 35-64, 66-17, 76-42 and 73-51.