SNOOKER – FIRAS Kamil Shaba of Iraq took down newly crowned masters world champion Muhammad Asif of Pakistan last night to punch his ticket to the men’s six-red last 16 in the IBSF World Snooker Championships 2025, currently being held in Bahrain.
Shaba battled back from two frames down to win an exciting duel 4-3 (35-20, 29-42, 8-36, 4-49, 54-1, 38-34, 39-22) at Crowne Plaza Bahrain.
He headlined a cast of 14 players who triumphed in the round of 30 yesterday and joined men’s under-17 world silver-medallist Riley Powell of Wales and Aditya Mehta of India – the top seeds from the preliminary round-robin stage – in the top 16.
Also making it through were men’s masters world bronze-medallist Manan Chandra of India, men’s under-17 world bronze-medallist Chen Qien of China, Mohammed Al Joaker of the UAE, Saleh Mohammadi of Afghanistan, Fung Kwok Wai of Hong Kong, Ahmed Saif of Qatar, Pan Yiming of China, Shahid Aftab and Ahsan Ramzan of Pakistan, Pankaj Advani and Paras Gupta of India, and Sebastian Milewski and Tomasz Skalski of Poland.
The last 16 is scheduled to be played today, starting from 10am. That will set the stage for the quarter-finals, taking place later in the day from 4pm. The semi-finals and finals will be held tomorrow on the concluding day of this year’s worlds.
In yesterday’s matches, Asif wasn’t the only big name to be eliminated, as last year’s men’s six-red world champion Kamal Chawla of India was beaten by Wai 4-3 (35-27, 38-19, 20-39, 26-39, 11-47, 64-0, 72-6). Wai next takes on Al Joaker, who roared back from a three-frames-to-none deficit to beat Ali Alobaidli of Qatar, also 4-3 (24-37, 1-44, 9-29, 36-9, 40-9, 36-22, 52-11).
Saif also needed to fight back from 0-3 down in defeating masters world silver-medallist Brijesh Damani of India 4-3 (1-46, 3-48, 22-48, 34-32, 43-0, 44-3, 37-33). He will next play Chandra, who was a 4-3 (37-0, 26-34, 14-40, 37-12, 41-6, 17-44, 36-25) winner against Omar Alajlani of Saudi Arabia.
Third-seed Advani was a cool 4-0 (43-35, 41-0, 31-23, 31-8) victor yesterday against Ahmed Aseeri, also from Saudi. Advani moved on to face Skalski, who defeated Bahrain’s Khalil Busaif – the national team’s only player in the six-red knockouts – 4-1 (56-16, 33-9, 40-32, 28-40, 34-15).
Sixteen-year-old Qien followed suit with a 4-2 (34-15, 39-13, 7-39, 21-32, 34-23, 40-23) triumph against Thaha Irshath. Qien will next face Mohammadi in the last 16. Mohammadi beat Eissa Al Hashmi of the UAE 4-2 (23-39, 39-17, 47-17, 4-52, 46-24, 29-21).
In the other matches, Milewski overcame Amaan Iqbal of Scotland 4-2 (16-43, 32-5, 28-20, 0-61, 37-25, 55-0), Yiming swept past Abdulrahman Saif of the UAE 4-0 (39-16, 35-7, 41-10, 39-28), Gupta won 4-0 (54-15, 39-33, 34-14, 44-26) against Emirati Mohamed Shehab, Aftab defeated Hong Kong’s Chau Hon Man 4-2 (25-41, 52-12, 56-0, 36-27, 1-51, 44-9), and Ramzan edged past Ayaan Iqbal of Scotland 4-3 (2-39, 54-0, 29-30, 29-10, 31-17, 4-62, 44-0).
Meanwhile, Ramzan and Kwan Chun Wong of Hong Kong booked their places last night in the quarter-finals of the men’s under-21 competition, also taking place as part of this year’s IBSF World Snooker Championships in Bahrain.
The last 16 contests took place as part of yesterday’s late schedule, with the remaining six matches missing our deadlines.
Ramzan upset top-seeded compatriot and newly crowned under-17 world champion Muhammad Hasnain 4-1 (70-54, 107-0, 0-72, 106-32, 64-6) to make it through to the elite eight. Ramzan came up narrowly short of a century break in his match, scoring a 99 in the second frame.
Wong, on the other hand, beat Amaan Iqbal 4-0 (64-54, 71-42, 89-0, 64-22) to march through.
The other last 16 match-ups featured Mayur Garg of India against Kwan Cheun Chen of Hong Kong, Powell against Sku Chan of Hong Kong, Milewski against Ayaan Iqbal, Yiming against Witold Bystrzycki of Poland, Kai Nam Pang of Hong Kong against Mayank Karthik of India, and Hu Jiayun of China against Hong Kong’s Shaun Liu.
The quarters are scheduled for today starting at 1pm, followed by the semi-finals at 7pm. The final will be held tomorrow at 1pm.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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