World Games 2022: Pak cueist Ahsan Ramzan moves to quarterfinals

Alabama: Pakistan’s promising cueist Ahsan Ramzan continued exhibiting his brilliance at the international level as he qualified for the quarterfinals of the World Games after a convincing 3-1 victory over USA’s Ahmed Aly Elsayed.

The 11th edition of the multi-sport World Games, an international event for non-Olympic sports, is being played in Alabama while the event will conclude on July 17.

The International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Champion is Pakistan’s only athlete in the event.

In his opening fixture, Ahsan thrashed his rival by losing just one frame.

The 16-year-old Ahsan won the first frame 73-31 but lost the second frame 58-49. He bounced back strongly to take the third frame 100-34. He continued his dominance to win the fourth frame of best of five frames with a score of 74-53.

The victory saw Ahsan advancing to the quarterfinal stage where he will take on the winner of Ka Wai Cheung vs Wayne Brown’s encounter on Friday.

The 11th edition of the Games, originally planned for 2021, was postponed to 2022 because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Games celebrated their première in 1981 in Santa Clara, California, and now, a little more than 40 years later, they returned to the USA.

Around 3,600 athletes from 34 sport disciplines and over 100 countries are competing for 223 medals in the World Games.