Saleh, Khurram gearing up for knock-out stage
CAIRO: Pakistan duo of Saleh Muhammad and Khurram Hussain Agha gearing up as they face challenging task in the last 32 knock out stage of 28th World Snooker Championship which break-off today.
Experienced Saleh, considered senior most player on the world amateur circuit, will square-off against former world championship semi-finalist, Somporn Kunthawung of Thailand. Debutant Khurram Hussain Agha will take on Alex Borg of Malta.
Borg emerged as group F Champion winning nine matches but going down against little known Habib Subah of Bahrain. Both Pakistani are drawn in lower half of the draw and if they win their next three matches they may face each other in the semi final.
Former world number three and double Busan Asian Games silver medalist Saleh looked in best frame of mind after his fabulous 4-3 victory over favorites Ding Junhui of China in the penultimate league round.
Diminutive Saleh had struck two century breaks one against world under-21 champion Ding Junhui in the event which showed his class. Saleh of Peshawar secured the runner-up spot in group Co with nine wins in ten games with one defeat against Ku Chih-Wei of Chinese Taipei.
15-year-old Ding with three major world under-21, Asian championship and Asian Games gold titles under his belt is rated highly by the pundits of the game. However the way Saleh beat him it gave Pakistan cueist a great reputation in the championship and that boosted the morale which may prove vital in knock out match.
Karachi’s Khurram Agha though lost his final league encounter against Mario Wehrmann of The Netherlands but still finished fourth and advanced in the last 32 for the prestigious event.
The major shock in the championship saw top seed Richard King (England) and sixth seed Alok Kumar (India) crashed out of from the knock out stage of the tournament. At the conclusion of marathon ten-day 440 league matches, a re-seeding ceremony took place at the venue where Martin McCrudden of Republic of Ireland was top seeded for the knock-out stage while Alex Borg was seeded two.