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| November 11, 2001 | Sunday | Shaba’an 24, 1422 |
Khurram in Billiards and Pool finals
KARACHI, Nov 10: Twenty-four-year-old Khurram Hussain Agha, fought his way into the Billiard and then the Pool finals, in the Second Red & White Billiard and Pool Championship played at the Indus Snooker Club on Saturday evening.
The young cueists who holds the top spot in the snooker rankings, first beat renowned Saleh Mohammad 4-2, last year’s Billiards champion and then in a very exciting semi-final, he came from behind to beat veteran Yousuf Haroon 4-3.
Joining Khurram in the Billiard final was another veteran Mohammad Hussain, last year’s losing finalist.
Mohammed Hussain from the NWFP, whipped his young counterpart Nadir Khan 4-0 in the quarter-finals and then beat the former world and Asian snooker champion Mohammad Yousuf 4-3.
In a keenly contested semi-final Yousuf trailing 1-3, fought his way back into contention levelling the frame scores 3-3. But Mohammad Hussain reserved his best for the final frame with a splendid clearance of 51 points.
Yousuf who survived two early scares in the first and second rounds, accounted for Mohammad Aslam 4-1 and Yousuf Haroon was quite at ease in beating No.6 seed Imran Shehzad 4-0.
The defending champion in Pool, Khurram Agha had to work up a sweat in overcoming the keen challenge of Punjab’s talented cueist Imran Shehzad 13-12. A little later he was joined in the final by NWFP’s Arifullah who came through a 13-6 winner over Punjab’s Farhan Noor after both cueists fought out a neck and neck battle till 7-6.
In the quarter-final, Khurram got the better of Naveen Perwani 11-7, while Arifullah sailed through a 11-3 winner over Shahid N. Minhas.
Imran had earlier come through to the semis after holding off the challenge of Shakeel Bhatti 11-6, and Farhan Noor had to work harder in stopping Sindh’s Asif Moti’s entry into the semis at 11-8.
The finals will be played on Sunday. The Billiard final will be played at 12.00 noon in the best of nine frames.
The Pool final will commence at 5.00 p.m. in the best of 15 frames.
Should Khurram pick up both titles that are at stake, he will be the first Pakistani cueist to hold the top ranking in snooker, billiards and pool.
Following are the results.
BILLIARDS (pre-quarterfinals)
Nadir Khan (NWFP) beat Atiq Latif Baksh (Sindh) 4-3: 50/42,40/50, 50/42, 2/50, 49/50, 51/28, 50/39. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Younus Amir Baksh (Sindh) 4-3: 42/50, 19/50, 50/41, 50/7, 50/51, 11/34, 50/0.
(Quarter-finals)
Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) 4-2: 51/33, 46/51, 51/27, 36/52, 51/14, 50/37. Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) beat Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-0: 50/14, 50/22, 50/12, 50/33. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Mohammad Aslam (Sindh) 4-1: 51/28, 50/28, 51/37, 37/50, 50/42.
Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) beat Nadir Khan (NWFP) 4-0: 50/20, 50/20, 50/20, 50/30.
(Semi-finals:)
Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) 4-3: 51/44, 51/12, 44/51, 31/50, 49/50,51/0, 51/46. Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) beat Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 4-3: 51/42, 50/32, 48/50, 51/10, 14/50, 2/50, 51/0.
Pool (Quarter-finals)
Khurram Agha (Sindh) beat Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 11-7. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Shakeel Bhatti 11-6. Arifullah (NWFP) beat Shahid N. Minhas (Sindh) 11-3. Farhan Noor (Punjab) beat Asif Moti (Sindh) 11-3.
(Semi-finals)
Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 13-12. Arifullah (NWFP) beat Farhan Noor (Punjab) 13-6.
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