Muhammad Asif beats Michael Wild, Vinnie Calabrese to advance into knockout stages – Snooker
The current Pakistan number 2, Muhammad Asif, has successfully advanced into the knockout stages of the 2011 IBSF World Snooker Championship in Bangalore, India, as he defeated Michael Wild of England and Vinnie Calabrese of Australia by frame-scores of
4-2 and 4-1 respectively.
Muhammad Asif showed one of the best performances ever seen by any Pakistani player at the international level since he showcased magnificent breaks of 137 and 111.
The overall score-lines for both matches are:
M. Asif beats Michael Wild (Eng) 4-2 (91-28, 26-70, 0-95, 65-45, 71-9 and 118-9); M. Asif beats Vinnie Calabrese (Aus) 4-1 (0-98, 92-0, 101-4, 137-0 and 56-36).
Asif verses Wild:
Asif, who suffered a surprise 2-4 defeat against Rais Khan Sen Zahi of Afghanistan on the opening day, showed magnificent cue-control to register back-to-back wins yesterday.
Asif’s first match was with the Englishman, Wild, in the morning session. Asif won the opening frame without doing anything outstanding to draw the first blood before Wild fired in classy breaks of 61 and 95 in the following two frames to go in front at
1-2.
Asif however showed great temperament and won the next three frames in a row. In the meantime he knocked in a marvellous break of 111 in the last frame.
Asif versus Calabrese:
Asif’s second match with the Australian cueist, Calabrese, was in the evening session and it saw yet another magnificent performance from the Pakistani cueist.
Asif lost the opening frame to Calabrese without scoring any point but he bounced back into the game, with all of his zeal, energy and strength, to win the next four in a row. Asif didn’t allow his opponent to score much and registered an impressive 4-1
win and in the meantime Asif showcased a mind-boggling break of 137 in the fourth frame.
Asif before going in the World Championship also won the Del Monte 4th Ranking Snooker Cup in Pakistan. Therefore, it is fair to say he is certainly playing on the top of his game. However, let’s see if Asif really make his country proud by
winning the World Championship.
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