Hamza eyes Asian crown today

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Hamza Akbar will take on India’s Pankaj Advani in the final of the 31st ACBS Snooker championship 2015 on Thursday (today) at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
If he wins the best-of-15-frame final, Hamza will become only the second Pakistani cueist to capture the Asian crown. The first was Mohammad Yousuf.
The Pakistani youngster, having knocked over compatriot Shahram Changezi in the quarter-final, stormed into the final by whipping Mohammad Raza of Malaysia in the semi-final.
Hamza, after dropping the opening frame, was in total control against his Malaysian rival while outclassing him 6-2 with the scores of 27-66, 85-5, 115-6, 69-25, 33-72, 90-56, 103-0, 77-4.
He snatched three frames on a trot to go 3-1 up. The local cueist fought back to win the fifth frame but that was all for him as far as this tournament was concerned. Hamza sealed the fate of the match by winning the last three frames with a lot of authority.
While Hamza was all smiles having overwhelmed his Malaysian rival in the semi-final, he seemed to have mixed emotions after downing his compatriot in the quarter-finals earlier in the day.
Shahram, one of the most accomplished cueists of Pakistan, was in great form as he knocked out Malaysia’s top cueist Moh Keen Hoo in straight frames in the pre-quarter-final the other day.
But he was unable to extend his magical touch in the quarter-final.
Hamza proved too good for Shahram to win the quarter-final 5-1 with the frame scores of 83-18, 7-120, 57-26, 69-18, 69-49, 74-47.
Hamza, the younger of the two, got off to a winning start with a break of 64 in the opening frame. Shahram came back strongly with a break of 120 in the second frame to make it one-all.
There was an absorbing contest in two of the last four frames but Hamza managed to win all of them and proceeded to the semi-finals.
Now all eyes will be on Hamza as he takes on India’s vastly experienced Advani, a former world champion. If he wins, the Asian title will come back to Pakistan after 17 years.