Mudassir overpowers Ahsan to win U21 Snooker title

KARACHI: Shaikh Mudassir overpowered the high-flying Ahsan Ramzan in the all-Punjab final of the 13th Seagold National Junior Under-21 Snooker Championship 2021 at the PSB Complex in Lahore on Tuesday.

Mudassir succeeded in taming his fancied opponent in the 11-frame title clash winning it 6-3 with the scores of 74-40, 51-81, 39-59, 77-0, 8-88, 73-35, 70-13, 60-27, 65-14.

Ahsan, who pocketed the under-17 title just the other week, had seemed on course to bag the under-21 crown as well with his continued brilliant performance in the event but he was undone in the final.

He showed his class by constructing breaks of 59 and 54 in the third and fifth frames, respectively, but it turned out to be the day of Mudassir who exerted decisive pressure with a break of 68 in the seventh frame.

Mudassir claimed a purse of Rs50,000, while Ahsan earned Rs50,000 for pocketing the under-17 competition and collected a cheque of Rs25,000 for finishing runner-up in the under-21 tourney in which he also registered the highest break of 116, bringing him another reward of Rs5,000.

Hamza Ilyas received Rs25,000 for being the runner-up in the under-17 tournament and a prize of Rs5,000 for compiling the highest break of 119.

Seagold Limited Chief Operating Officer Muhammad Bilal was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony. Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) chairman Alamgir Anwar Shaikh and Pakistan Sports Board, Lahore, Director Nasarullah Rana were also present on the occasion.