Slim chance for Emirati duo to enter last eight in snooker event

Mohammed Shehab could Mohammed Al Joaker suffer defeats on day two of Snooker Championship in Pakistan.

Mohammed Shehab had a bitter sweet day in Karachi.

Mohammed Shehab and Mohammed Al Joaker both suffered shock defeats at the seven-nation Snooker Championship in Karachi on Monday.

The Emirati duo lost to relatively less known players, with Shehab losing 4-3 to Abdul Sattar, an unseeded Pakistani cueist, before the fourth seed recovered to defeat Saeed Abooyesani, the Iranian, and keep alive his chances for a place in the quarter-finals.

Seventh seed Al Joaker, however, lost both matches he played – to Sultan Mohammad, of Pakistan, and Egypt's Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed.

The day belonged to local hope, Sattar, who followed his opening-day win over Egypt's Yaser Ahmed Elsherbiny with the win over Shehab.

After conceding the close first frame, Shehab came back with a run of 50 points to win the second. The UAE's top-ranked player went without a point in the next frame before recovering once again to clinch the fourth frame and a break of 83 points in the fifth.

But Sattar produced a vital break of 69 in the sixth frame to earn a 3-3 and then took the deciding seventh on the black for a 4-3 victory.

It was Pakistan's day with Mohammad Asif beating Yaser Ahmed Elsherbiny, of Egypt, in straight frames and notching up a break of 126 in the final frame, which remains the highest of the championship being contested by 20 cueists from seven countries.

Sixth-seeded Habib Subah, of Bahrain, was also among those upset on Monday as he lost 4-2 to little-known Mohammad Faisal Khan, of India.

The top three seeded cueists in the championship – Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Iran), Thepchaiya Unnooh (Thailand) and Yasin Merchant (India) – won their matches to boost their chances of advancing to the next round.