Qatar’s Ahmed Saif, Ali Alobaidli and A Mohsin al-Abdulrahman entered the knockouts of the 32nd Asian Snooker Championship at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF) Academy yesterday.
Al-Abdulrahman made it to the Last 48 stage and will face Alvin Barbero of the Phillipines today, while Saif and Alobaidli sealed their spots in the Last 32 of the championship. Saif will take on Amir Sarkhosh of Iran, while Alobaidli is up against Mohamed Shehab of UAE in the afternoon matches.
Yesterday, Saif finished second in Group J after he beat Au Chi Chung of Hong Kong 4-1 (76-42, 50-57, 60-52, 80-08, 64-21) in the last league match. The 33-year-old won three of his four matches.
The 24-year-old Alobaidli blanked Sulaiman Almisfer of Saudi Arabia 4-0 (81-46, 62-39, 77(68)-17, 74(57)-05) to finish second from Group A and qualify for the knockout stage.
Alobaidli lost just one of his three matches. He had gone down to India’s top seed Pankaj Advani, who topped the pool stages across all groups.
Multiple-time champion Advani has amazingly never claimed this title (despite being a finalist on three occasions), but his hopes of putting that right are firmly on course after topping Group A.
The Indian Cuesports ace qualified with ease when winning all three of his fixtures 4-0; the only player left in the draw who is yet to drop a frame. Advani racked up a string of breaks, including bests of 133 and 111.
Al-Abdulrahman, meanwhile, finished third in Group C. The 47-year-old held his nerve to edge past Mihu Baek of South Korea 4-3 (33-56, 67-17, 52-60, 73-10, 72-05, 46-58, 67-37).
The highest break of the event so far goes to Thailand’s Yuttapop Pakpoj, who crafted a magnificent 137. The 27 year old also emerged from Group L with maximum points too.
Other hopefuls going through to the knock-out stages with 100 percent records include former professional Habib Subah (Bahrain), 2010 runner-up Mohamed Sajjad (Pakistan), reigning Pakistan National champion Mohamed Bilal, Indian National 6 Reds winner Manan Chandra, Chi Wai Au (Hong Kong), Arman Dinarvand (Iran), Omar Alajlani (Saudi Arabia) and Michael Mengorio (Philippines).
The winner of this 32nd edition continental championship will be awarded a guaranteed two-year professional tour card by World Snooker.
All the league matches up to the pre-quarters stage will be best-of-7 frames while the quarter-finals and the semi-finals will be best-of-9 frames. The final will be played on Saturday at 11am and will be a best-of-11 frames affair.
The winner of the event will get $3,500 and the runner-up $1,750. The losing semi-finalists will collect $500 each. The organisers also have lined up cash awards for the highest break and maximum break.
The cueman with the highest break (over 100 pts) will pocket $500 and those with maximum break (above 147) is set to go home with $1,750.

RESULTS
GROUP A: Ali Alobaidli (Qatar) beat Sulaiman Almisfer (Saudi Arabia) 4-0 (81-46, 62-39, 77(68)-17, 74(57)-05)
GROUP B: Karam Fatima (Syria) beat Khaled Alsalat (Palestine) 4-0 (62-17, 70-10, 61-40, 62-53); Omar Alajlani (Saudi Arabia) beat Abdul Latif Alfawal (Qatar) 4-0 (75-34, 56-50, 59-39, 82(75)-12)
GROUP C: Mohamed Bilal (Pakistan) beat Maylis Atayev (Turkmenistan) 4-0 (74-16, 72(52)-08, 65-23, 75-08); A. Mohsen Abdul Rehman (Qatar) beat Mihu Baek (South Korea) 4-3 (33-56, 67-17, 52-60, 73-10, 72-05, 46-58, 67-37)
GROUP D: Manan Chandra (India) beat Ibrahim Adel (Iraq) 4-0 (61-25, 77-16, 69-49, 79(64)-09); Ahmed Aseeri (Saudi Arabia) beat Soheil Shehzad (Pakistan) 4-1 (65-36, 51-31, 44-65, 64-31, 69-25)
GROUP E: Habib Subah (Bahrain) beat Alijalil Ali (Iraq) 4-1 (77-20, 70(50)-58, 42-65, 95(95)-00, 53-43); Mhanna Alobaidli (Qatar) beat Batyr Ashyrov (Turkmenistan) 4-0 (67-06, 71-14, 58-27, 60-38)
GROUP F: Mohamed al-Joaker (UAE) beat Jefrey Roda (Philippines) 4-0 (58-28, 72-36, 73(73)-05, 105-17); Mohomed Rikaz (Sri Lanka) beat Annamamed Annamamedov (Turkmenistan) 4-3 (61-37, 49-36, 75-25, 37-47, 30-68, 59-63, 67-29)
GROUP G: Amir Sarkhosh (Iran) beat Kim Youngjoo (South Korea) 4-2 (32-60, 82-34, 52-69, 84-14, 134(126)-01); Sundeep Gulati (India) beat Bashar Abdulmajeed (Qatar) 4-1 (75-07, 51-71, 68-15, 67-28, 73-22)
GROUP H: Fung Kwok Wai (Hong Kong) beat Chee Keong Chan (Singapore) 4-2 (06-75, 52-76, 66-26, 64-35, 65-58, 49-13); Michael Mengorio (Philippines) beat Khaled Alsalem (Qatar) 4-0 (73-17, 68-58, 50-07, 78(78)-00)
GROUP J: Ahmed Saif (Qatar) beat Au Chi Chung (Hong Kong) 4-1 (76-42, 50-57, 60-52, 80-08, 64-21); Ahmed Janahi (Bahrain) beat Mohamed Shamil (Sri Lanka) 4-0 (60-36, 73-15, 68-12, 63-37)
GROUP K: Soheil Vahedi (Iran) beat Hwang Chulho (South Korea) 4-2 (48-59, 71-07, 34-71, 82-16, 94-08, 88-08); Ishpreet Singh Chadha (India) beat Hani Kannan (Palestine) 4-0 (63-17, 73-39, 71-26, 70-37)
GROUP L: Ali Hussain (Iraq) beat Mohsen Bukshaisha (Qatar) 4-2 (22-74, 92-45, 14-76(68), 70-23, 70-35, 70-23); Hussain Mahmood (Bahrain) beat Ibrahim Hasan (Jordan) 4-0 (65-20, 63-44, 65-30, 67-22)
GROUP M: Arman Dinarvand (Iran) beat Mohamed Alshamsi (UAE) 4-0 (65-22, 91-17, 60-31, 73-11)