16 February 2004	Monday	24 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 15: Mohammad Yousuf, who has won the National snooker championship for a record 12 times, is on course to complete a hat trick and pick up the spoils for the 13th time , when he takes on seventh seed Imran Shehzad in the final of the 29th national snooker championship on Monday evening at the Karachi Club.

The defending champion was in tremendous form as he ended the pretensions of Mohammad Nazir 6-2, after the Punjab cueist handed out a shock 5-2 defeat to world No.2 Saleh Mohammad, studded with breaks of 101, 52 and 46.

Brimming with confidence, Nazir thought he could hand out the same type of treatment to the veteran. But Yousuf was indeed a different cup of tea. Aware that he was facing a very dangerous adversary, Yousuf never allowed his opponent to settle down claiming the first three frames with breaks of 54 and 59.

Fighting back Nazir picked up the next two frames to claw his way closer. But Yousuf put the final nail in the coffin with a magnificent break of 108 in the sixth frame and followed it up with 49 in the next to inch nearer to victory 5-2.

Although Nazir tried to stem the tide, the wind was already out of his sails surrendering the final frame 70/35 and the match 6-2. Earlier, Yousuf got the better of third seed Naveen Perwani in a close 5-3 victory with the lead changing hands several times.

Imran Shehzad always regarded as a dangerous opponent, shocked the wits out of the top seed Khurram Agha, 6-3, after Khurram came through to the semis with a crushing 5-0 defeat over left-hander Vishan Gir.

In a very interesting encounter, both cueists were locked 2-2, with Imran chalking up breaks of 54 and 39 to Khurram's break of 39 in the second frame. In this see saw tussle Imran shot into the lead again 3-2. Khurram however stormed back with a brilliant break of 115 to draw abreast 3-3.

But this proved to be the top seed's last hurrah. Getting down to brass tacks Imran breezed past in the next three frames which included a fine break of 70, to emerge a 6-3 winner.

Earlier in the quarterfinals, Imran surprised former national champion Farhan Mirza in a hard fought out 5-3 triumph. Helped on with a break of 70, Farhan was leading 3-1 at one stage of the match. However, Imran slowly but surely fought his way back into contention to get the better of his bespectacled opponent.

Following were the results:

(Quarter-finals)

Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) beat Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) 5-2: 61/11, 101/0, 1/81, 67/22, 82/24. 25/88, 70/23. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 5-3: 39/56, 59/42, 71/51, 68/38, 25/96, 73/50, 30/69, 70/34. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Farhan Mirza (Punjab) 5-3: 62/14, 46/62, 73/55, 5/63, 71/61, 66/37, 12/78, 68/36. Khurram Agha (Sindh) beat Vishan Gir (Sindh) 5-0: 75/20, 61/57, 73/67, 82/23, 86/8.

(Semi-finals)

Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) 6-2: 60/47, 54/4, 68/28, 53/60, 35/58, 83/0, 123/1, 70/35. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Khurram Agha (Sindh) 6-3: 65/27, 42/80, 72/28, 29/64, 61/47, 0/127, 87/22, 55/51, 72/1.