Ahsan, Hamza to battle today for Under-17 snooker title

KARACHI: The cueists from Punjab dominated the knockout round of the Seagold National Junior Under-17 Snooker Championship 2021 at the PSB Complex in Lahore on Sunday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), all the four quarter-finalists from the host province defeated their opponents. Later, Ahsan Ramzan and Hamza Ilyas forced their way into the final.

In the quarter-finals, held during the morning session, Ahsan trounced Jahanzaib Jahangir of Balochistan in straight frames with the scores of 93-5, 61-16, 63-36, 80-4, firing breaks of 60 and 80 in the first and last frames, respectively. Zubair Tahir of Punjab whacked Hasnain Akhtar of Sindh 4-1 with the frame scores of 85-15, 65-31, 6-60, 63-49, 71-8.

Muzammil Shaikh, also from Punjab, overpowered Muzammil Malik from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4-2 with the scores of 47-64, 41-51, 50-17, 48-17, 68-66, 81-61. Hamza was awarded a walkover against Haroon Saleem of Sindh.

In the semi-finals, which followed in the afternoon session, Ahsan edged out Zubair Tahir 4-2 with the frame scores of 57-46, 26-56, 53-18, 67-41, 8-56, 64-40. Hamza blanked Muzammil Shaikh in straight frames with the scores of 70-57, 57-32, 66-35, 48-10.

The best-of-nine-frame final between Ahsan and Hamza is scheduled to get under way at 11 am on Tuesday (today). Besides collecting a handsome purse of Rs50,000, the winner will also earn the right to represent the country in the IBSF World Under-17 Snooker Championship 2021 to be staged later this year.