India’s Brijesh Damani faltered with the tape in sight to go down 3-4 to Pakistan’s Muhammad Asif in the Masters final of the IBSF World Snooker Championships here late on Friday.
Coming off a fine triumph at the Asian Team Snooker Championship last month in Colombo, Damani seemed to carry that form into the Worlds. However, in a finale that could have gone either way (3-3) in the best-of-seven-frame encounter, the Indian missed a sitter red in the decider to the top right-hand pocket to let Asif off the hook.
The Pakistani cueist, the reigning IBSF World champion (15-red), was off the chair in a jiffy and constructed a brilliant break of 40 under pressure to add another crown to his burgeoning collection of major titles.
Chawla starts well
On Saturday, India’s Kamal Chawla began his 6-Red Snooker title defence with a 4-2 win over Bahrain’s Jaafar Alraees in Group ‘A’.
The bespectacled pro from Bhopal jumped to a quick 2-0 lead. But lapses in concentration allowed the Bahraini to force his way into the best-of-seven-frame league clash. However, the 45-year-old Indian recovered quickly to register a comfortable victory.
In the U-21 category, Bengaluru-based Mayank Karthik, Aarav Sancheti and Mayur Garg posted wins in their respective groups.
Results
(Indians unless mentioned): Masters (Final): Muhammad Asif (Pak) bt Brijesh Damani 4-3 (98 (87) -37, 75-55, 0-80 (51), 40-52, 41-64, 91, 29, 78 (40) -9).
U-17 (Final): Muhammad Hasnain (Pak) bt Riley Powell (Wal) 4-0 (86-7, 73-35, 50-31, 98 (67) -4).
6-Red (Men): Group A: Kamal Chawla bt Jaafar Alraees (Bhn) 4-2 (41-27, 39-33, 22-38, 43-29, 35-42, 35-4).
Group Q: Ahmed Saif (Qat) bt Rushabh Jain 4-2 (43-15, 8-33, 27-39, 73-4, 49-0, 39-22).
U-21: Group B: Wojciech Sowinski (Pol) bt Rahul Williams 3-1 (70-8, 54-48, 32-70, 55-17).
Group C: Mayur Garg bt Saif Saeed Alzaabi (UAE) 3-0 (55-9, 69-48, 75-2).
Group D: Sebastian Milewski (Pol) bt Vaibhav Chadha 3-0 (55-19, 86-26, 97-4).
Group E: Aarav Sancheti bt Mutasim Al Saadi (Oman) 3-1 (46-59, 59-28, 80-58, 74-63).
Group F: Mayank Karthik bt Sky Chan (HKC) 3-1 (33-80, 67-41, 59-21, 57-19).
Group H: Chiu Chun Tung (HKC) bt Gadda Srikanth 3-0 (69-5, 63-23, 60-8).
Group J: Langyi Ryan Li (HKC) bt Bhavya Pipaliya 3-0 (56-40, 80-28, 87-1).
