Pakistani cueist Mohammad Asif bags IBSF World Snooker Championship title

Pakistan's Mohammad Asif has won the IBSF World Snooker Championship (amateur), beating Jefrey Roda of Philippines 8-5 in the final on Saturday.

This is Asif's second IBSF World title. He won the same title in 2012 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf had also won the IBSF World Snooker Championship in 2012.

The country's number one cueist, who remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, kept the momentum in the final as well to outclass his opponent.

Asif won the first three frames to take an early lead of 3-0 with frame scores of 68-35, 88-00 and 69-1. Roda then made a comeback but couldn't overcome Asif's lead.

Read  more:   Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif reaches IBSF World Snooker championship final

Asif played a break of 105 in the fifth frame to minimise his deficit to 3-2, only to get it increased before the break as he made it 5-2 by the seventh frame. The Pakistani continued his form post-break to take it to 6-2.

Roda played a break of 71 in the ninth frame, but Asif responded well in the 10th to keep his lead.

With the Pakistani cueist just one frame away from his title, Roda gave Asif a scare and broke his momentum by winning back-to-back frames, making it 7-5.

But the 13th frame ended up being the decisive one. Roda conceded the game with pink and black balls remaining on the table and Asif keeping a lead of 17 points.

Asif completed the best-of-15 frames win with 8-5 in less than five hours with scores of 68-35, 88-0, 69-17, 28-73, 5-118, 93-0, 69-1, 72-57, 10-93, 77-04, 21-65, 54-66 and 68-51.

In a message sent to the media following his win, Asif said that he was dedicating this win to the people of Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.

"This wasn’t an easy tournament for me, but I was focused to win for my country," he said.