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| March 31, 2006 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427 |
Khurram ends jinx to capture maiden national crown
KARACHI, March 30: Khurram Agha, a former Pakistan No 1 and seventh seed, on Thursday stamped his authority when he whipped sixth seed, Imran Shehzad, 6-3 in the final of Rs204,000 31st National snooker championship before a packed to capacity crowd at Snooker Zone to capture his maiden national crown.
He won the four and a half hour battle 86-0, 19-63, 54-41, 62-13, 33-90, 67-37, 85-50, 40-69, 70-52.
With Latif Masters’ (2003) and Style Cup (2004) under his belt, Khurram overcame the jinx by grabbing the national title which eluded him in the past.
Though he rose to No 1 slot in national ranking in 2003, he never had the honour of winning the national’s. His best performance came in 2002 when he went down to bespectacled Farhan Mirza in the final.
In the process of making it to final second time, Khurram topped his group with a clean slate to cruise into the knock out stage. He humbled 13-time champion, Yousuf 5-3 in pre-quarterfinal, disposed off third seed Naveen 5-1 in quarterfinal, and handed a crushing 6-1 defeat to second seed and holder Saleh in the semis.
‘After beating big guns I was confident of winning the national title’, a beaming Khurram told Dawn after the triumph.
Acknowledging the potential of his opponent, Khurram said he (Imran) gave him a tough time but it was his (Khurram) day.
Imran, 30, a former national champion of Billiards and Pool, also remained undefeated in his group. He breezed past Mohammad Asif 5-2 in last 16, followed by 5-2 triumph against Sohail Shehzad in quarterfinal and prevailed 6-2 over Abu Saim in pre-final.
Picking up from where he had left, Khurram chalked up a splendid break of 86 in the opening frame to take 1-0 lead in the match. Imran even failed to open his score in the opener.
Imran fought back in the next frame and enjoyed an upper hand. He piled up a break of 53 to win the second 63-19 and drew level.
Serving in KPT, Khurram, 29, capitalised the black ball, earlier missed by Imran, to win the third frame 54-41 and earn 2-1 lead. He went on to win the next 62-13 to enhance his lead to 3-1.
Imran, who had the honour of beating the then world champion Pankaj Advani in the Indo Pak Peace Snooker series at Chandigarh two years back, reduced the deficit 2-3 by taking the fifth frame 90-33 aided by a break of 69.
Imran who look certain to level 3-3 missed red ball at a crucial stage in the sixth frame which proved to be turning point for him. Khurram won 67-37 to further strengthen his grip securing 4-2 lead.
He then won the next frame 85-50 to take 5-2 lead before Imran won the eighth 69-40 to trail 3-5. Finally, Khurram sealed the fate picking up the eighth frame 70-52.
Khurram earned a winning purse of Rs70,000 besides a glittering trophy. Imran took home runners up cheque of Rs 40,000 and a trophy.
Saleh had some consolation of winning the highest break (120) prize of Rs8,000.
Result (final):
Khurram Agha bt Imran Shehzad 6-3 (86-0, 19-63, 54-41, 62-13, 33-90, 67-37, 85-50, 40-69, 70-52.
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