Muhammad Asif trashes Yasin Merchant to hit semi-final spot: 2012 Seven-Nation Snooker Championship
Reigning Pakistan National Champion, Muhammad Asif put up an outstanding snooker display against India’s Yasin Merchant in the quarter-final of 2012 Jubilee Insurance 7-Nation International Snooker Championship at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi,
Pakistan.
Faisalabad-based potter dominated the game after the first session when he was at 2-2 level with the Indian potter. Asif played some impressive snooker shots during his match to unnerve his Indian opponent in the last frames.
Merchant, despite being one of the top contenders for the title, was not able to maintain his focus in the game and dropped down by 5-3 at the hands of 2012 37th Pakistan National Snooker Champion.
With this quarter-final victory over Merchant, Asif has grabbed a strong position in the tournament and must be hoping to claim the title. Even before the tournament started, he was one of the top favourite potters to clinch the trophy.
Merchant, on the other hand, was expecting more from his cue stick and even his fans but he could not perform according to his standards and lost a crucial game.
The Last 8 clash between Asif and Merchant began with a tussling game play from the pair who went neck and neck to get the lead but in the end, Asif won the fight and the frame to lead 1-0 in the competition. Merchant responded in a superb fashion as he
took the second frame with a surprising score line of 0-118 and pulled level at 1-1.
Third frame finished in Asif’s favour when he cruised into a superb run of 98 points in reply to Merchant’s 20. Some decent small breaks in this rack brought Asif on top again with 2-1 score line.
However, Merchant did not take it lightly and breezed into another frame win to equalise the scores by 2-2 before the first session of the match ended.
The second session took place with a close fifth frame. Both potters were trying their best to hit the match lead this time because as the game was moving towards the end, the pressure was building up rapidly on both players. After a hard struggle, Asif
finished the frame with 70-57 on scoreboard to take the match lead once again at 3-2.
The former two-time Asian Champion, Merchant, clung to the score line and levelled the competition again by winning the sixth frame with an easy ratio of 25-74. The National Champion of Pakistan dominated the table in the next two frames and cleared the
baize with back-to-back wins at 64-07 and 74-9. He will be facing Thepchaiya Un-Nooh or Noppon Saengkham in the semi-finals.
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