DUBAI - Pakistan defeated India 3-2 at the inaugural Asian Confederation for Billiards Sports Championship team event semi-final on Friday in Al Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
Pakistan fielded the country’s top three cueists — Muhammad Bilal, Babar Masih and former IBSF World Champion Muhammad Asif — in the event.
In the first frame of the semi-final, Asif conceded to Sundeep Gulati 61-44, while Masih also lost the second frame to Ishpreet Singh Chadha 59-46. However, Pakistan bounced back into the game in the third frame, with Asif and Masih overwhelming their opponents 66-53.
The duo followed it up with another victory to level the match 2-2, as Masih outplayed Gulati 79-36. The winning blow was struck by Asif, who sealed the victory for Pakistan with a score of 72-39 against Chadha.
Pakistan will now face Iran in the final. Earlier, the team defeated Hong Kong 3-1 in the quarter-final and Jordan 3-1 in the last-16 match.
Meanwhile, Asif and Pakistan’s top-ranked cueist Bilal crashed out of the tournament’s Chinese pool event.
Asif, who had defeated Mongolia’s Enkhjargal Enkhbaatar 7-6 in the round of 32, lost to Qatar’s Bashar Abdul Majeed 7-0 in the last-16. On the other hand, Bilal lost his quarter-final 7-5 to Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Rahman Alammar. Bilal had reached the last-eight after outplaying Mongolia’s Shinebayar Bold 7-4 in the first match of the Chinese pool competition.
