Mohammed Aziz keeps winning

Mohammed Aziz Afghani scored his third successive win to enter the main draw of the third ISC-Kingfisher-Spinneys UAE Open Ranking Snooker Championship.

Aziz blanked Khalid Arendha (43-34, 83-24, 49-36) to enter the final 32 where he will open his campaign against second seed Mohammed Joker.

Also making the grade in this one and only ranking snooker event staged in the capital was Mohammed Anas Zarzour. Zarzour defeated Joe Yuan (59-28, 48-45, 33-61, 52-24) to become another of the 16 qualifiers for the main draw.

Zarzour also faces a tough opponent next when he takes on the tournament's third seed Obaid Khaleefa.

Humaid Al Darmaki, another UAE national, will take on former ISC Open champion Mathew Thomas after his win over Abdullah Marzoogi. Al Darmaki, whose highest break was 34, did well to quell Marzoogi's challenge with a (63-45, 55-21, 32-41, 71-63) win in the third round match.

Two other players who advanced to the third round were Hamad Mohammed Al Mazroui and Mohammed Ali.

Hamad staged a brilliant rally after being down by two frames before he overcame Yahya Al Suwaidi 3-2.

Hamad won (16-47, 21-57, 61-14, 59-34, 67-34) and will now meet ISC's Snooker Secretary Dominic D'Souza for a berth in the tournament proper.

Mohammed Ali had it rather easy with a win 56-47, 55-49, 70-27 over Sayed Salim in the only other second round match played on Sunday evening.

Ashfaque Mohammed received a walk over from Sultan Al Joker and will next meet eighth seed Mohsin Abdul Azeez for a place in the pre-quarterfinals.

With just a few more matches left before the list of 16 players qualify to take on the 16 seeded players, the action is just beginning to gather pace in this premier event.

The top UAE national cueists who represented the country in the ongoing Asian Games will soon make their appearance as they vie to garner maximum points towards their ranking status.