SNOOKER – BAHRAIN’S superstar cueist Habib Sabah barged into the masters quarter-finals last night in the IBSF World Snooker Championships 2025, currently being hosted by the kingdom.
The hometown hero defeated Rushabh Jain of India 4-1 (90-15, 94-6, 0-87, 85-0, 81-7) in their best-of-seven contest in the last 16.
Sabah is aiming to replicate his title-winning run in the 2023 edition of the masters worlds and has moved one step closer to reaching his goal. But he next faces off with three-time world snooker champion Muhammad Asif of Pakistan, who was also triumphant yesterday in his round-of-16 clash.
Others to make it through to the elite eight were Mohammed Al Joaker of the UAE, and the Indian trio of Manan Chandra, Brijesh Damani, and Vijay Nichani.
They joined Firas Kamil Shaba of Iraq and Bashar Abdulmajeed of Qatar, both of whom had already secured their berths with victories on Tuesday and had a bye last night.
The quarters are scheduled to be played today starting at 10am, to be followed by the semi-finals at 7pm. The gold medal match will be held tomorrow.
This year’s IBSF World Snooker Championships are being held at Crowne Plaza Bahrain in Manama.
The prestigious International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) event is taking place under the patronage of Supreme Council for Youth and Sport (SCYS) first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
All are welcome to attend to watch the exciting action.
Sabah was in fine form yesterday against Jain, posting breaks above 40 in each of his frame victories. Seeded fourth for the knockouts, Sabah posted 47 breaks in both of the opening two frames, before giving up the third to a resurgent Jain. But Sabah answered by convincingly taking the fourth frame, where he had a 55 break, and then closed the match strong with a 62 break in frame five.
Sabah will next be hoping to overcome a tough challenge against Asif, who roared back from two frames down to defeat Mohamed Shehab of the UAE 4-2 (56-68, 21-72, 57-21, 80-0, 68-45, 68-58) yesterday. Asif had an impressive break of 80 in the fourth frame and rode his momentum to the finish.
In today’s other quarter-final match-ups, Chandra will take on Shaba, Damani will face Abdulmajeed, and Al Joaker will lock horns with Nichani.
Chandra posted an upset last night after taking down top-seeded countryman and reigning six-red world champion Kamal Chawla 4-2 (45-82, 38-66, 40-32, 67-45, 49-35, 65-15). Like Asif, Chandra needed to dig himself out of a two-frame hole before edging ahead and securing his win.
Second-seeded Damani was dominant yesterday in a 4-0 (67-40, 93-1, 63-31, 100-0) victory against Ahmed Saif of Qatar, while registering a 70 break in the decisive frame.
Sixth-seeded Nichani battled past Iraq’s Ali Hussein to book his place in the top eight. Nichani won 4-1 (87-23, 61-53, 3-51, 82-40, 71-57) while also posting breaks of 40 and above in each of his frame wins, including 40, 51, 48, and 65.
Al Joaker, meanwhile, stunned third seed Saleh Mohammadi of Afghanistan 4-2 (47-73, 59-10, 27-60, 66-13, 57-15, 55-10). The Emirati twice fell behind in the contest but stayed resilient and had over-40 breaks of 46, 44, 55, and 41 on frames one, two, four, and six, respectively.
Also in the world championships yesterday, the quarter-final cast in the men’s under-17 competition was determined.
Leading the way was the knockouts’ top seed Chen Qien of China, while joining him were second seed Muhammad Hasnain of Pakistan, third seed Kai Nam Pang of Hong Kong, fourth seed Riley Powell of Wales, fifth seed Shaun Liu of Hong Kong, seventh seed Krzysztof Czapnik of Poland, ninth seed Xiong Ran of China, and 11th seed Oliwier Nizialek of Poland.
The under-17 quarters will also be played today from 10am, with the semis following at 4pm. The final is slated for tomorrow.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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