Awais faces Asjad in snookerfinal today

LAHORE: Seasoned cueist Asjad Iqbal of National Bank and third seed Awais Ullah Munir of Punjab blasted their way into the final of the 48th NBP National Snooker Championship at the NBP Sports Complex Karachi snooker arena on Monday.

Asjad, a 2019 Doha World Cup winner, downed Mohammad Naseem Akhtar of Punjab in the semi-final while Awais Ullah Munir conquered Sohail Shehzad of Sindh in the other semi-final. The final between the two will be held on Tuesday (today). As both the finalists are yet to win national title, a new champion is set to be crowned.

Asjad, also the runner-up of the 2017 World Team Championship, has to his credit a handful of national ranking events. He also remained runner-up of the national event once. The first semi-final between Asjad of NBP and Mohammad Naseem Akhtar of Punjab was one sided as the former secured a 6-1 victory.

Sargodha-born Asjad took a bright start when he won the first frame 63-39. However, Naseem brought parity when he won the second frame 67-50 to make it 1-1. And it proved to be a wake-up call for Asjad who went on to win the next five frames to seal a big win. The frames score was 63-39, 50-67, 65-39, 79-0, 98-0(98), 74-63, 108-0(108). His superb show was embellished with a break of 108 in the seventh frame.

Awais downed Sohail of Sindh 6-2 to set final date with Asjad. It was Awais' day as he played with great command, demonstrated super potting ability to notch an easy win. The frames score was 1-0, 89-17, 64-49(52), 25-79(79), 16-62, 71-64, 64-59, 73-25. This is the first time that Awais will be playing the final. The winner of the event will be handed over a purse of Rs200,000 with the runner-up to go away with Rs100,000.