Umer wins National U-18 Snooker Championship

KARACHI: Last year’s semi-finalist Muhammad Umer Khan won the Jubilee Insurance 3rd National Junior U-18 Snooker Championship 2018 by overpowering last year’s runner-up Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir in the all-Punjab final at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad on Thursday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), the 14-year-old Umer Khan overwhelmed Shaikh Muddasir 5-2 in the best of nine-frame final with the scores of 41-62, 65-42, 64-22, 42-54, 54-16, 77-28, 65-16.

A total of 32 cueists, representing all of the four provinces as well as the federal capital, took part in the preliminary rounds at the end of which the top two cueists from each of the eight groups, advanced to the knockout phase starting with pre-quarter-finals.

The cueists from Punjab dominated the six-day event and there was no element of surprise in both the finalists having emerged from the same province. As a matter of fact the final was contested between the two cueists from Lahore, the capital of Punjab.

Umer Khan, the younger of the two, was overcome in the opening frame but he came back strongly to win the next couple of frames to move 2-1 up.Shaikh Mudassir, who had lost to Muhammad Naseem Akhtar in the final last year, made it two-all by clinching the fiercely fought fourth frame. But that was all he could do to extend the match.

The raw talent of Umer Khan took over and he pocketed the next three frames on a trot rather comfortably to win his first-ever title at the national level. He played brilliantly to outshine his more experienced opponent,

Meanwhile, Jubilee Insurance 10th National Junior U-21 Snooker Championship 2018 will commence from Saturday (tomorrow) at the same venue.The 32 participating cueists from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Islamabad will be engaged in battle for supremacy in what promises to be another exciting tournament, expected to throw more of young talent to be groomed for future.The players’ meeting and draws of the National U-21 Championship will be held at the PSB Billiards & Snooker Hall, Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad.