Babar, Asif storm into Ranking Snooker final

KARACHI: Second seed Babar Masih and unseeded Asif Toba sneaked into the final of the Jubilee Insurance Ranking Snooker Championship 2018 as they edged out top seeded Muhammad Asif and unseeded Sharjeel Mahmood respectively in the fiercely fought semifinals held here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

Babar staged a magnificent comeback to overcome holder Asif 6-5 in the all-Punjab semifinal with the frame scores of 55-14, 27-73, 57-61, 8-75, 1-70, 24-76, 59-47, 65-45, 88-31, 80-14, 74-1 while Toba, from Punjab, knocked over Sharjeel of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 43-57, 61-54, 87-13, 28-90, 26-60, 46-66, 80-0, 57-14, 77-49. So the title clash will be taking place between the Punjab duo of Babar and Toba, neither of whom has lost any game in the championship yet.

By virtue of his semifinal victory, Babar not only dethroned Asif but also displaced him from the top position in the national rankings. Although the official confirmation is still awaited, it has almost become certain that Babar and Asif, by virtue of being the top two ranked cueists of the country, will represent Pakistan in the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2018 to be staged in Myanmar later this year.

As expected the semifinal tie, between Babar and Asif, two of the most prolific cueists of the country, went to the wire with both the outstanding cueists giving their best and refusing to give up. Babar, having emerged triumphant in quite a few closely fought battles earlier in the competition, drew the first blood against the defending champion who responded by claiming the next five frames in a row to get into commanding position.

Asif, the 2012 world champion, showed his pedigree by compiling a break of 59 in the second frame and one of 58 in the fifth frame. He was just one frame away from marching into the final after pocketing the sixth frame.

But Babar, as he has done so often in the past, fought back gallantly from the precarious position and turned it around calmly. He didn’t wilt under pressure and caused unforced errors from his fancied opponent instead.

Asif started running out of steam in the last couple of frames and Babar was quick to capitalize on it, drawing level with a break of 54 in the 10th frame and wrapping up the issue with a break of 51 in the decisive 11th frame.

Earlier the semifinal encounter between the two unbeaten cueists, Toba and Sharjeel, had also been quite an absorbing one.Sharjeel, hailing from KPK’s city of Haripur, won the opening frame but Toba, coming from Toba Tek Singh, clinched the next two frame to go 2-1 up moving into the lead with a break of 51 in the third frame.

Then Sharjeel got into the act by claiming the next three frames to go into 4-2 lead and he was just a couple of frames away from reach the final. He chalked up breaks of 51 and 54 in successive frames. But Toba, a former national champion, had reserved his best for the final phase of the match. He was on top of his game in the last three frames and sealed the fate of the match by running away with the 10th frame.