Asjad overpowers Shahid to win snooker title

KARACHI: Second seed Asjad Iqbal won the 9th NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2017 by overpowering fifth seed Shahid Aftab in the all-Punjab final here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Tuesday.

Asjad, hailing from the city of Sargodha, proved too good for Shahid, a former national champion coming from the industrial town of Faisalabad, winning the best-of-15-frame final 8-4 with the scores of 63-49, 39-69, 65-1, 1-86, 5-64, 96-44, 74-42, 67-15, 30-82, 72-42, 78-30, 62-29.

The title clash got off to a tense start as the first couple of frames were fiercely fought. Asjad drew the first blood but Shahid did not waste time in opening his account as well.A break of 51 in the third frame allowed Asjad to move 2-1 up with relative ease but Shahid retaliated like a wounded tiger to grab the next couple of frames to take the lead for the first time.

It served as a wakeup call for Asjad who proved his mettle by pocketing the next three frames to make it 5-3. Shahid chalked up a break of 67 in the ninth frame which helped him reduce the deficit.

With neither of the seeded cueists prepared to concede an inch the final looked heading towards a close finish. It was 5-4 in favour of Asjad but Shahid was also looking awesome in patches.

It went to the credit of Asjad to have reserved his best game for the last stages of the final. He was challenged at every step but he was the one who managed to extend his lead and Shahid, despite being in fine form, was unable to match his fluency.

The last three frames followed identical pattern and the result was the same as well with Asjad driving home the advantage on all occasions. He sealed the fate of the match and the tournament in only the 12th frame.

Asjad received a purse of Rs60,000 with the winner’s trophy, while Shahid got a cheque of Rs35,000 with the runner-up trophy. Abdul Sattar and Mohammad Ijaz, the losing semi-finals, collected Rs15,000, while Mohammad Bilal, Haris Tahir, Mubashir Raza and Majid Ali, the losing quarter-finalists, were given Rs5,000 each.

Bilal also picked the highest break award of Rs5,000 for his effort of 139.Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) president, said he was satisfied with the growing standards in cue sports which was reflected by the emergence of young talent. “Our cueists have started performing more consistently at the international level and we have a crop of talented youngsters who seem to have the capacity as well as the eagerness to graduate to the next level. The PBSA on its part is facilitating them in the best possible manner,” he observed.National Bank of Pakistan president Saeed Ahmed was the chief guest on the occasion.