KARACHI: Peshawar’s Rambel Gul reached third ranking final of his career upsetting local cueist and sixth seed Abdul Sattar 6-4 in the fir­st semi-final of the the third ranking snooker cup at National Bank Sports Complex on Friday.

The 31-year-old Rambel made a stong comeback from 3-4 down to turn the tables on his opponent to avenge his last defeat that he suffered at the hands of Sattar in pre quarter-finals.

He won the best of 11 frames battle 30-74, 77-14, 72-38, 90-0, 22-74, 11-61, 22-68, 72-52, 65-36, 46-35.

“Since losing to him, I’ve worked hard for the last two-and-half months which is reflecting in my performance,” Rambel, who has been on the circuit for last 13 years including a three-four year break, told Dawn after the triumph.

Rambel rose to fame when he captured his first ranking title by getting the better of Atiq Latif Bux at Karachi Gymkhana in 2004. In his next final he went down to Afghanistan-based Salah Mohammad at Karachi Club in 2006.

Following a sluggish start by losing the opening singles 30-74, he got into rythum and succeeded in taking next three frames 77-14, 72-38, 90-0 to surge 3-1 the last include an efficient break of 90.

Bearded Sattar, who has represented the co­u­ntry in the Asians at home, came back into the game with vigour claiming fifth, sixth and seventh frames to change the complexion of match.

Never say die Rambel, the four-time former NWFP Cup champion, who has represented the country at the Doha Asian Games 9-ball billiards, roared back after after losing 22-74, 11-61, 22-68 to seal the fate by claiming the last three frames 72-52, 65-36, 46-35 in-a-row.

At the time of filing this report, the second semi-final was in progress between second seed Mohammad Sajjad and third seed Imran Shehzad.

Results: Semi-finals:

Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 6-4 (30-74, 77-14, 72-38, 90-0, 22-74, 11-61, 22-68, 72-52, 65-36, 46-35).

Saturday’s fixtures:

At 10am (best of 15 frames) final.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2014