LONDON: Qatari duo of Bashar Hussain and Waleed Magid came up with a masterful performance to guide their team to a first ever quarter-finals of World Cup Pool event.
On Friday, Qatar overcame USA 7-5 to book a place in the last sixteen stage of the event.
The World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams from around the world battling it out for a $250,000 prize.
Friday night was a tale of contrasting fortunes as Qatar made it to the next stage while Philippines crashed out.
In the other match of the session, Finland once again won to look on track for their third semi-final in three years.
Team Qatar who had looked so good in their win over the USA in the opening round, continued in the same rich vein of form as they beat the Czech Republic 7-3 to move into the World Cup of Pool quarter-finals for the first time.
Both Waleed Majid and Bashar Hussain played superbly, as they dominated the Czechs and made the most of their chances to secure a great win.
From the outset, Qatar looked a solid unit combining power with a bit of artistry as they eased into a 3-0 lead as they broke and ran from the off. Bashar missed their first ball of the match as he twitched on the 2 ball but after Czech’s Roman Hybler had missed it also, Waleed played a sensational carom off the two onto the rail and then onto the 9 for 4-0.
The Czechs got their name on the scoreboard in the next and won a drawn out sixth rack to make it 2-4 but when Hybler scratched on the 2 ball, it was a chance that Qatar grasped to move to 5-2. Waleed missed a long 2 ball in the next and the momentum went back to the Czechs who cleared for 3-5.
Hybler though missed the 2 ball in the ninth after the Czechs had pushed out and Qatar had put them back in. Majid slid it home along the rail and he and Bashar coped well with a tricky layout to reach the hill at 6-3.
The Czechs got to the table in the next but a clumsy safety from Michal Gavenciak left the 7 ball on and Bashar Hussain played a great cross bank to pot it and set up the win.
“We are delighted to reach the quarter-finals for the first time, and we know everybody watching in Qatar will be very happy. We played very well against USA and we were very happy with the performance tonight; we didn’t make too many mistakes,” Bashar said while talking to azbilliards.com.
“Beating USA gave us a big confidence boost. They are a big team with big players and that gave us a lot of confidence, which we have built on with the win today. Japan is a very good team but if we can keep the same rhythm and the same focus we know we can win,” he added.
Finland and Singapore shared the opening four racks as both sides looked a little nervy but it was Finland who took the lead for the first time as Petri Makkonen played an outstanding positional shot to leave the 7 ball for his partner Mika Immonen.
A dry break from Makkonen though, got the Singaporeans back to the table but they couldn’t capitalise and Finland reached the hill at 6-3 and from there they finished the last rack off for an excellent win.
Agencies
