KARACHI - ANISUDDIN KHAN -  Watching world champion Hossein Vafaei Ayouri of Iran and former Asian champion Yasin Merchant of India in action on the second day of the Jubilee Insurance seven-nation international snooker was a treat for the connoisseur of the sports here on Monday at local five star hotel.
Vafaei, 18-year-old, who only a few months ago won the coveted amateur world title in the baize sport, was at his brilliant against Pakistan’s Sharjeel Mahmood in the group A league match, his first. The Iranian lad won hands down 4-0 without giving any respite to his Pakistani challenger.
The contest was over before Sharjeel Mahmood could recover from the attacking game of his Iranian counterpart. Vafaei won 60-47,75-15,66-25,78-08(58).
India’s experienced star Yasin Merchant, who is on Asian snooker circuit longer than any one playing here, was also as brilliant as was the current world champion from Iran. Yasin, seed three, brushed aside a weak challenge from the Pakistani opponent Sohail Shahzad whose best score in his straight four frames defeat was 40 in the third frame. He won 79-28,73-17,65-40,54-23.
For Pakistani fans of the sport, however every thing was not bleak and dark during the second day competition. There was flash of brilliance from home star Abdul Sattar who caused the first upset of the league round when he extended fourth seed M Mustafa Shehab of UAE before clinching the win in the last seventh frame. The Emirati thrice came from behind but ultimately Sattar prevailed upon his off form opponent.
The Pakistani also recorded a century break, second of the event of 100 in his victory. He is second Pakistani to do that. On the first day of the event Pakistan’s hope in the contest M Sajjad had reordered a break of 103. Sattar won 4-3 (65-57,07-74,(50),100-00,(100),38-61,21-83,(83),77-16,(69),59-49).
M Sajjad who had started his run in the event with style on a winning note on first day suffered his first defeat at the hands of Habib Subah of Bahrain who struck form late in the to win the contest 4-3. The score in favour of the Bahraini was 17-97,65-59,47-55,69-26,14-82,(79),75-17,(61),63-0.
Pakistan’s Sultan Muhammad caused a ripple as the days programme progressed towards completion when he defeated Muhammad Al Joaker of UAE surprisingly quickly by four frames to one. The Pakistani won 75-14,(74),76-13,58-31,26-81,59-52.
Results:
M Faisal Khan (India) bt Habib Subha (Bahrain) 4-2, Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed (Egypt) bt Mohammed Al Joaker (UAE) 4-1, Saeed Abooyesani (Iran) bt yaser ahmed m. Elsherbiny (Egypt) 4-1.
Second day (second session): Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Iran) bt Sharjeel Mehmood 4-0, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Thailand) bt Vishan Gir (pak) 4-1, Yasin Merchant (India) Bt Sohail Shehzad (Pak) 4-0, Abdul Sattar (Pak) bt M Mustafa Shehab (UAE) 4-3. Third session: Noppon Saengkham (Thailand) bt Naveen Perwani (Pak) 4-0, Habib Subah (Bahrain) bt Muhammad Sajjad (Pak) 4-3, Sultan Muhammad (Pak) bt Mohammad Al Joaker (UAE) 4-1, Mohammad Asif (Pak) bt Yaser Ahmed M Elsherbiny (Egypt) 4-0.