RIYADH: Young Pakistan cueist Muhammad Hamza Ilyas on Saturday, outclassed his Indian opponent Dhruv Patel 4-2 to storm into the semi-final of the ongoing IBSF World U21 Snooker Championship.
In the quarter-final of the World U21 Snooker Championship, Muhammad Hamza Ilyas carried on his rich vein of form to thump Dhruv Patel 4-2 in the Best of 7.
Hamza completely outclassed Patel in the opening frame by a scoreline of 66-23.
The young Indian cueist soon recollected himself and put on a better show in the next frame but Hamza held his nerves calm to edge him by a mere two points margin and claimed a 2-0 lead.
Patel finally made a scintillating comeback in the third frame in a dominating manner but Hamza claimed the next frame to restore his advantage at 3-1.
The next two frames also followed the same pattern as Patel cut Hamza’s advantage with a dominating fifth-set victory but the Pakistan cueist once again hit back to claim the next frame.
Thus, Hamza Ilyas carried on his unbeaten run and registered a berth in the semi-final of the ongoing competition.
He next faces Germany’s Alexander on Sunday in a bid to reach the final.
Meanwhile, another Pakistan cueist participating in the World Championship, Ahsan Ramzan, succumbed to a shock defeat against Iran’s Tirdad Azadipour.
Tirdad, who lost to Ahsan Ramzan on his home ground in the semi-final of the U21 Asian Snooker Championship, was more cautious and started with an opening break of 54 points to secure the first frame 74(54)-02.
Ahsan Ramzan performed brilliantly and scored a few points in the second session, but Tirdad was once more aggressive and won the game 61-39.
Ahsan attempted to make a comeback in the game but remained unsuccessful.
Tirdad, on the other hand, was prepared to make up for any errors and eventually won the third frame 63-27 to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the 2023 World Under-21 Snooker Championship.
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