Mohammad Asif blasts Sharjeel Mahmood in quarters of 3rd Ranking Snooker Championship
Proceedings of the quarter-final stage of the Jubilee Insurance Third National Ranking Snooker Championship 2012 have finished at the Karachi Gymkhana Club producing four national potters of Pakistan who will play in the semi-final stage of the event. The
reigning National Snooker Champion, Mohammad Asif has also booked his semi-final spot after beating Sharjeel Mahmood in the quarters.
With impressive performance in the round robin formatted group matches, Asif was able to qualify for the quarter-final stage where he faced Mahmood and defeated him by an easy score line of 5-2. The playing environment at the arena during their quarter-final
encounter was quite tense as both potters were playing cautiously during the match up to get a strong position.
The first session of the game was quite interesting and tussling as well because both cuemen were fighting hard to get the lead but the session finished level at 2-2. Mahmood put Asif under a lot of pressure when he cruised into one frame lead at 0-1 winning
the opening frame by the score line of 25-67.
Asif did not lose his focus and stayed in the game as he pulled level by 1-1 after he clinched the second frame victory by the score line of 98-16. The third frame of the match was once again taken by Mahmood with the scores 25-56 and he kept the one frame
lead intact at 1-2.
Asif did not let his hopes die and bounced back into the game with outstanding play and claimed the fourth frame triumph by the score line of 78-23 to equalise the match scores at 2-2 before the interval.
The second session was dominated completely by Asif as he triumphed in three consecutive frames by the frame scores of 105-10, 57-51 and 74-48 to make sure he gets a place in the semi-finals. Asif is now a couple of steps away from winning the Jubilee Insurance
Third National Ranking Snooker Championship 2012 title.
The semi-final stage will be tough definitely since he will be up against the winner of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Second National Ranking Snooker event, Asjad Iqbal. He has played Iqbal before and is aware of his capabilities.
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