08 February 2005	Tuesday	28 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Feb 7: In the clash of the giants, second seed Saleh Mohammad routed 13 times national champion Mohammad Yousuf 6-1, to bulldoze his way into the final of the 30th ntional Snooker championship , before a very large gathering at the Karachi Club on Monday.

The former world No.2 will now take on fourth seed Naveen Perwani, who paved his way into the final with a 6-4 victory over top seed Khurram Hussain Agha.

Earlier in the quarterfinals, Saleh with breaks of 83, 50, 48 and 55, whipped Punjab's Kamran Saqib 5-1. Kamran had ousted fifth seed Atiq Latif Bux 5-1 in the previous round but on Monday he was no match for Saleh.

Naveen in a nerve tingling finish beat NWFP's Inamur Rehman 5-4, after surrendering the first two frames to his opponent from the north, while Khurram chalking up breaks of 73, 39 and 42, had a narrow escape against sixth seed Imran Shehzad also by a 5-4 margin.

Yousuf had the easiest way into the semi-finals beating Punjab's Shehram Changzei 5-0 with breaks of 62, 50 and 74. Shehram seemed completely awed with the situation, giving Yousuf a fight in the last frame which he lost 60/75.

Former world and Asian amateur snooker champion Yousuf on course for his fourth straight victory in the Nationals, surrendered the first frame to his main rival Saleh 65/49, after a good fightback.

Saleh chalked up a break of 45 and Yousuf replied with 48 points on the trot, which was however to no avail. In the next frame Saleh was 15 points ahead with the brown, blue, pink and black balls to pot.

After a few parleys for the brown, Yousuf snookered Saleh behind the black to gain eight points and drew nearer 48/52 only to fall back further 48/58 when he inoffed with his cue ball. Sinking the brown, Yousuf followed it up with blue, pink and black to win the frame 70/58 and level the frame scores 1-1. But this was to be Yousuf's last success. Annoyed with himself for letting Yousuf off the hook, Saleh scored 51 points before Yousuf could open his account and continuing to pile on the score, the NWFP cueist went on the win the frame and take over the lead once again 2-1.

In the fourth frame Yousuf had a slender lead with blue, pink and black on the table. Potting blue, Yousuf was horrified to see his cue ball sink into the centre pocket after potting the pink. Saleh then potting pink and black increased his frame score lead to 3-1.

Now in the driving seat Saleh was leading 37/7 in the fifth frame but missed as easy red. Yousuf then chalked up 31 points on the trot to draw closer 38-39 and potting red snookered Saleh behind the pink to take over the lead 45-39. Saleh then snookered Yousuf behind the brown to draw level 45-45. Then sinking brown to pink increased his lead 4-1.

In the vital sixth frame, Saleh stole the early lead again registering 36 points. Yousuf however, scoring a few points on every visit to the table drew abreast 36-36. Yousuf then potted yellow and green and just when he needed three more coloured balls, he fumbled. Saleh potted brown, cannoned blue and sinking pink was just one frame away from victory leading 5-1.

With victory just around the corner, Saleh took over the lead again in the seventh frame 35/25 and adding 38 more points on trot for good measure, increased his winning margin.

With defeat staring him in the face, Yousuf with one red and the six coloured balls to pot, needed to snooker his opponent once and then sink all balls left on the table. But trying to snooker Saleh, Yousuf once again stumbled and fell. He in-offed with his cue ball and had no alternative to throw in the towel.

On the next table, the top seed Khurram won the first frame 80/20 aided with a break of 54. Unruffled with the start Naveen replied back with a smashing break of 84 to level the frame scores 1-1. Grabbing the next two frames Naveen was leading 3-1 before Khurram stung into action chalked a marvellous break of 105 to cut down the lead 2-3.

Naveen began the sixth frame with 20 points to which Khurram replied with a break of 36.Then with another 36 points Naveen was in front 62/32, leading by 32 points with 35 points on the table. Khurram potted the last red with the black and sinking yellow to brown failed to cash in on the blue. Potting blue and pink Naveen increased his frame lead to 4-2. Khurram refused to surrender. Picking up the next frame 76/21 he clawed his way closer 3-4, but went further in the red after losing the next frame 49/75 as Naveen was heading for victory 5-3.

In a last ditch effort Khurram was on song again, winning the ninth frame 68/29 to draw nearer 4-5 and gave himself a chance oflevelling the frame scores 5-5, taking the lead in the 10th frame to draw level 5-5. But Naveen keeping his cool trailing 36/49, cleared the table with 25 points to emerge a 6-4 winner.

The final scheduled for Tuesday has now been postponed for Wednesday afternoon, due to the sad demise of Younus T. Surya, Managing Committee Member of the Karachi Club.

Saleh todate has made eight appearances in the final of the nationals winning twice in 1995 when he beat Mohammad Shafiq 8-5. Saleh won again in 1999 beat Farhan Mirza 8-6. Apart from Yousuf and Saleh, Farhan has also won the prestigious trophy twice first in 1994, where he beat Saleh and repeated the feat again in 2002, when he accouted for Khurram.

This will be Naveen's third appearance in the nationals. In 1992 he was beaten by Yousuf 8-1, but gave a better account of himself in Quetta in 2001, when he lost again to Yousuf 7-4.

Results:

Quarterfinals: Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Inamur Rehman (NWFP) 5-4: 39/60, 50/61, 59/9, 61/47, 66/30, 57/59, 55/30, 58/69, 63/03; Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 5-4: 0/65, 74/29, 2/69, 63/70, 71/57, 57/7, 50/59, 35/72, 76/31; Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) bt Saqib Butt (Punjab) 5-1: 50/57, 114/17, 82/27, 56/21, 83/37, 78/20; Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt Shehram Changezi (Punjab) 5-0: 51/8, 78/18, 90/24, 75/6, 75/60.

Semifinals: Naveen Perfwani (Sindh) bt Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) 6-4: 20/80, 84/17, 85/51, 42/20, 28/109, 82/38, 21/76, 75/49, 29/68, 61/49; Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 6-1: 65/49, 58/70, 77/17, 64/52, 67/45, 57/41, 77/25.

Final on Wednesday in the best of 13 frames from 1200 noon onwards.