"He is playing well in patches with anything possible"
Professional cueist Farakh Ajaib has defeated Mark Llyod in the first round of the World Snooker Championship qualifiers 2022.
In the best of eleven frames, Farakh beat Mark by six frames to five. The first to six frames was a real nail-biting match between the two.
Farakh who is a British Pakistani really made hard work against his amateur opponent at the English Institue of Sport in Sheffield.
Mark narrowly took the first two frames 79-62, and 62-52. With Farah taking the next frame, and Mark clinching the fourth, the latter took a 3-1 lead going into the interval.
Farakh came back to level at 3-3 by winning the next two close frames, 68-43 and 74-64. The next four frames were shared equally.
First Mark went ahead at 4-3, and at one stage Farkah was 5-4 up. Once Mark levelled at 5-5 it was really a toss of a coin.
However much to the relief of Farakh, he won the all-important decider comfortably by 76 points to 0.
Despite not being at his very best, Farakh was fast, with an average speed time of 20.1 seconds per shot.
Mohammed Nisar from Oldham Snooker Academy exclusively spoke to us about his performance:
“Farkah had a few good frames. Whilst Farakah would have liked to have won more convincingly, he will take the result.”
“He is playing well in patches with anything possible at the qualifiers.”
Farakh is desperately seeking to qualify for the main draw of the 2022 World Snooker Championship.
This takes place at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield between April 16, and May 2, 2022.
If Farakh can win his next three-round matches, he can make it to the main draw, guaranteeing himself a minimum of £20,000.
From round 4 of the qualifiers, the matches will shift into the best of nineteen frames. This means the magic number is 10 to qualify.
Qualifying will be massive for Farakh, considering he has been struggling since he became a professional in the 2020/2021 season.
The Blackburn born player has not reached beyond the second round of any ranking tournament. He also did not qualify for some ranking tournaments during the 2021/22 season.
Farakh plays Pang Junxu of China in round 2 of the qualifiers. Farakh ranked 98 will go into the match definitely as the underdog.
The 22-year-old Pang is ranked 63 in the world and received the 2021 Rookie of the Year Award.
Pang will try his best knowing that his place on the main professional snooker tour is hanging on a thread.
Meanwhile, Farakh who is likely to lose his place on the main tour is playing for pride. Farakh will take confidence from the fact that Pang has not reached past the third round of a ranking tournament.
British Bangladeshi snooker player Hammad Miah also made it to Round 2, courtesy of a 6-3 win over Chen Zifan (CHN).
Hammad ranked 92 has a tough game against the 2019 Snooker Shoot-Out Champion, Michael Holt.
DESIblitz congratulates Farakh Ajaib and Hammad Miah on their opening round victories.
Loading ...