20 January 2005	Thursday	09 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 19: Talented and tactical Sohail Shahzad lifted the 13th Sindh Cup snooker after he downed Salman Shaikh 6-3 in the final at the Snooker Zone Club on Wednesday.

Playing before a capacity crowd, Sohail of Times Snooker, North Nazimabad, showed superb cue control, potting and break-building to seize a 90-38, 25-87, 100-32, 40-80, 65-16, 53-10, 13-73, 3-73, 61-15 victory in just two and a half hour contest.

Sohail got off to a sterling start with strong potting as he took the first frame 90-38, which included a break of 52, to put his opponent under early pressure. The host club's Salman dismissed the pressure in style winning the second to draw level, but another break of 52 saw Sohail again forging 2-1 ahead.

Without showing any nerves, Salman levelled the score 2-all thanks to a brilliant break of 64 in the fourth frame. From this stage onwards, Sohail fully got into strides grabbing the fifth and sixth frame to gain a 4-2 advantage with a fine break of 52 in the 6th frame.

Salman took frame number seven, but to little avail as Sohail sealed the fate of the title by wrapping up the next two frames without giving him any room to stage a comeback.

Former president Karachi Club Jamil Sakrani presented the glittering trophy and Rs20,000 prize money to Sohail Shahzad while Salman collected runner-up trophy and Rs10,000. Losing semi-finalists Kamran Razzaq and Muhammad Baqar received Rs2,500 each and Shakir Rafiq Rs1,000 for compiling the highest break of 97 in the championship. -APP