March 08, 2008	Saturday	Safar 29, 1429

KARACHI, March 7: The National Juniors Snooker Championship which concludes on Saturday will throw a new champion from Punjab as their cueists thwarted the challenge from Sindh, forcing them to make their exit in the quarter-finals at the Karachi Club.

Ahsan Javed and Ayaz Khan on Friday stormed into the final registering contrasting victories over their opponents to make the title clash an all-Punjab affair. The former demolished Tahir Abbas 70-27, 66-31, 44-37, 56-28 while the latter had to fight tooth and nail against Mohammad Afzal to win 66-50, 7-58, 55-17, 7-54, 57-42, 58-96, 53-33.

Earlier in the day the above four, all hailing from Punjab, propelled into the last four by winning their quarter-finals. None of the three Sindh players who qualified for the knockout stage could go beyond the last eight. Afzal subdued Azeem Yousuf 4-2 the score being 58-42, 75-8, 11-71, 59-47, 30-62, 83-14.

Similarly, Ahad Ali Khan and Agha Bilawal went down to Tahir Abbas and Ahsan Javed, respectively. In the other all-Punjab quarter-final, Ayaz Khan disposed off Mohammad Imran 4-2.

Ahsan meets Ayaz in the best of nine frames final Saturday at 3.00pm. The winner will pocket Rs30,000 while the runner up will earn Rs20,000.

The losing semi-finalists and quarter-finalists will receive Rs20,000 and Rs18,000 apiece.

Results (quarter-finals):

Ayaz Khan (Pun) bt Mohammad Imran (Pun) 4-2 (54-44, 17-60, 68-27, 64-35, 2-46, 56-27); Mohammad Afzal (Pun) bt Azeem Yousuf (Sindh) 4-2 (58-42, 75-8, 11-71, 59-47, 30-62, 83-14); Ahsan Javed (Pun) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-1 (61-31, 69-40, 8-68, 57-45, 78-9); Tahir Abbas (Pun) bt Ahad Ali Khan (Sindh) 4-2 (78-55, 27-54, 51-50, 52-38, 25-64, 56-34).

Semi-finals:

Ahsan Javed (Pun) bt Tahir Abbas (Pun) 4-0 (70-27, 66-31, 44-37, 56-28); Ayaz Khan (Pun) bt Mohammad Afzal (Pun) 4-3 (66-50, 7-58, 55-17, 7-54, 57-42, 58-96, 53-33).

Saturday’s fixture (final):

Ahsan Javed (Pun) v Ayaz Khan (Pun) at 3.00pm