Asif wins thriller to claim NBP snooker title

KARACHI: Mohammad Asif played brilliantly to overcome Mohammad Sajjad in an epic all-Punjab final of the seventh edition of the NBP Snooker Championship 2015 here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Tuesday.
As expected, the final between second seed Asif and third seed Sajjad, two of the most accomplished cueists of the country, turned out to be a cracker with the former winning it 8-7 with the frame scores of 70-77, 80-62, 27-70, 104-0, 37-90, 58-64, 67-39, 33-71, 59-46, 60-50, 27-69, 27-76, 104-0, 74-43, 74-1.
The final, going to the full distance of 15 frames, reminded many snooker fans of duels between Mohammad Yousuf and Saleh Mohammad in the 1990s.
By reaching the final, Asif, hailing from Faisalabad, and Sajjad, coming from Sargodha, booked a spot in the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2015, scheduled to be staged from November 10 to 21 at Hurghada, Egypt.
While Asif grabbed the crown in 2012, it has remained a so-near-yet-so-far story for Sajjad who came very close to bring home the crown in the last couple of years.
The tone was set in the first couple of frames both of which were fiercely fought. Defending champion Sajjad drew the first blood and it was for the first time after the pre-quarters when Asif actually conceded a frame, having won the quarter-final as well as the semi-final in straight frames.
Asif didn’t take long to open his account and won the hotly contested second frame.
Sajjad, however, took the third frame and it needed a century break of 104 from Asif in the fourth to draw level again.
Sajjad showed his class with a break of 57 in the fifth frame which he won comfortably to move into lead once more.
He doubled the lead by pocketing the sixth frame which also went to the wire.
Asif reduced the deficit by winning the seventh frame with the help of a break of 50 but Sajjad took the next frame to move 5-3 up.
Asif won the next couple of frames to make it 5-all as the encounter entered the decisive phase.
Sajjad became the favourite to retain the title when he claimed the next two frames to go into 7-5 lead. He was just a frame away from winning the trophy. The momentum was with him and he looked in control of the game.
Asif, however, refused to give up and showed his pedigree by chalking up his second century break of the final in the 13th frame to make it 6-7.
Sajjad still enjoyed the lead and there were moments in the 14th frame when he could sense victory.
Asif pulled it back by taking the 14th frame and didn’t give any chance to his dangerous opponent in the final frame to close the deal.
Asif became richer by Rs60,000, while runner-up Sajjad had to be content with a purse of Rs35,000. The losing semi-finalists, Mohammad Saim and Mohammad Bilal, received Rs15,000 each, while the losing quarter-finalists, Shahid Aftab, Imran Shahzad, Abdul Sattar and Mohammad Faheem, got Rs5,000 each.
The losing pre-quarter-finalists were given Rs3,000 each.
Shahid Aftab collected Rs5,000 for registering the highest break of the tournament (135).